Rostov Agricultural Group “South of Russia” is expanding its production of paperboard. On the base of its enterprise “Donskoy Corrugated” there will be organized an issue of a flat and corrugated cardboard capacity 68 tons and 144 million sq. m. per year. Investments are 1.5 billion rubles. Experts welcomed the project, as well as the quantity of packaging produced in the Southern Federal District are far behind the needs of the food industry. Deputy Head of the Administration of Rostov-on-Don on the economy Vitaly Zolotukhin reported on the expansion of pulp and paper production of “South of Russia”: – Industrial holding will launch new lines to produce 68 tons of cardboard and 144 million square meters of corrugated board at its plant (managed by “Donskoy Corrugated”) in Zarechny. Thus, the carton power of “South of Russia” will increase in 4-5 times, the corrugated cardboard – almost doubled. According to Zolotukhin, investment in the project amounted to 1.5 billion rubles. In the urban sectors of the economy department of coordination reported that the earlier the new equipment of “South of Russia” was purchased from Taiwan HSIEH-HSU Machinery Co. and Italian Curioni and is likely to cooperate with them in the implementation of this project. “Donskoy Corrugated” confirmed that soon there would be launched new lines, but refused giving any comments. Experts welcomed the project. – This is a serious power to the South, where the production of cardboard for flat layers and corrugated cardboard is small. In YUFO there is only one major producer, Maikop Paper and Pulp Mill Kartontara, and the development in the region of the food (including alcohol) industry needs a lot of packaging, which were imported in large quantities from other Russian regions and Ukraine. The new power will not work as the warehouse, said the chief editor of industry magazine “Pulp. Paper. Cardboard” Alexander Schwartz. – Before the crisis, the power of Russian Pulp and Paper mill were loaded on 80-90%. Production of cardboard and corrugated cardboard, which is targeted for the food industry, was not affected by the crisis, demand for this type of packaging declined over the last four to six months only at 15-20%. But lots of PPM have already loaded on 95%, said the Head of Lesprom Network analytical department, Anastasia Kopylova. – In January and February there has been a sharp decline, but in March, some producers of corrugated board showed an increase compared with March, 2008, Alexander Schwartz added. According to Anastasia Kopylova, Russia produced 3.69 million tons of paper (including paper for corrugating) that is approximately 24-27,5 billion sq. m. depending on its density.