Russia's Technonicol planning to establish exports to Africa, Middle East

ROSTOV-ON-DON. Dec 24 (Interfax) - Technonicol is planning to enter the markets of Africa and the Middle East, the corporation's co-owner and managing partner Sergei Kolesnikov told Interfax.

"The plans include establishing interaction with markets in Africa and the Middle East. Belarus remains one of the focal points of our investment activity. We will keep developing our enterprises that are already working well. If interesting offers appear on the market, then we're ready to consider them," Kolesnikov said.

There are currently several difficulties with selling products produced by the corporation's Belarusian enterprises, as the Russian market is saturated and exports to the East and South are not profitable due to expensive logistics, he said.

"We need a few more years to set the balance of supply and demand. Currently, part of production goes to Russia, part of it is sold in the post-Soviet countries, and there are supplies to India and China," he said.

Technonicol acquired a plant located in the Brest Free Economic Zone in 2023, he said. It annually produces more than 10 million cubic meters of vinyl siding, soffits, facade and wall panels, as well as more than 25 million linear meters of baseboards.

"In 2023, we also acquired a woodworking enterprise, SWOODS export, in the Minsk region. The new asset includes a raw wood storage facility with a capacity of 30,000 cubic meters, a sawmill workshop capable of processing 600,000 cubic meters of timber, 38 drying chambers, a sorting and packaging line for dry lumber, a pellet production facility with an output of up to 120,000 tonnes of fuel wood pellets, and a molding production line with an annual output of up to 24,000 cubic meters of finished products," he said.

A plant in Belarus's Mogilev region has been operating for quite some time, he said. It produces roofing and waterproofing materials, mastics, primers and insulation based on extruded polystyrene foam. The plant produces about 57 million square meters of roofing, more than 10,000 tonnes of mastics and primers, and approximately 360,000 cubic meters of XPS each year.

Technonicol, which was founded in 1992, is a major manufacturer of roofing, waterproofing and thermal insulation materials. The company now has more than 70 production facilities.