A multi-million pound joint Anglo-Swedish venture will break new ground with veneer and plywood production in the Baltic states.
A new wood processing factory, Interflex, is under construction in Lithuania and owners Mike Swift and Anders Olenius expect the first phase, the production of rotary-cut veneer, to commence in mid-April.
Mr Swift, managing director of Potash & Continental Ltd of Brigg and its subsidiary com-pany, Forest Focus, says this is the company’s first venture into veneer and plywood.
Last August Interflex bought the Junckers veneer factory in Denmark, stripped it down and shipped it to the site at Vilkyciai, 30km from the port of Klaipeda, Lithuania.
Mr Swift said: ‘Major site preparations were in progress ready to take the veneer peeling, drying and clipping lines. New roads and increased utilities had to be added to the existing production facilities to cope with construction of the additional 10,000m² new steel-framed production building.’
The second phase involves the installation of two 8×4 plywood press lines, currently being disassembled in Slovakia.
Plywood production should start in July 2001 and combined annual production capacity will be 100,000m³ of rotary-cut veneers and 8×4 plywood.
