The event attracted the importing trade, suppliers and shipping sector representatives, as well as the current Churchill & Sim board and members of the Sim family.
Chairman Paul Giesen told guests that the current role of timber agents was difficult because they had to try to occupy the middle ground between shippers and buyers.
Churchill & Sim’s involvement in the Russian softwood business, which can be traced back to its earliest days, still continues today, thanks to partnerships with Siberian sawmillers LDK1 and Solombala Sawmills in Archangel.
A new mill at LDK 1 in Lesosibirsk has recently been built, with capacity to process 1.5 million m3 of FSC-certified redwood and larch annually. The Churchill & Sim brand re-emerged after the 2011 closure of UCM Timber plc.
The East Sussex-based company, along with related operation Churchill & Sim International Ltd, had continued independently as non-trading entities when Churchill & Sim Group was acquired by UCM, but never became part of the latter.
