The Pulp and Paper Industry Evolution in Russia: A Road of Many Transitions

This chapter explores the evolution of the pulp and paper industry in Russia. The evolution is divided into three main periods: the era of the Russian Empire, the Soviet era and the era of transition to the market economy. The evolution described refers to changes in the technology and resources used in the industry, the changes in products and output volumes, as well as the changes in government policies. The road of many transitions of pulp and paper in Russia can be traced from the early 1700s to the development of the Russian paper giants, which are the world players of today. Also, the main challenges of the pulp and paper industry in the first decade of 2000 are analysed. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the evolution of the development of the pulp and paper industry in other transitional countries of Central Eastern Europe. The evolution path of the transition countries seems to have created certain common features in the pulp and paper industry in the transition countries. However, these countries have quite different pre-socialist economic, cultural and political histories. There are a few indicators of a path dependency in the most recent development of the Russian pulp and paper industry. The challenges currently faced by the pulp and paper industry are similar to those of the last century: the Soviet legacy of inefficient institutions, unclear legislation, environmental degradation, lack of investment in efficient technologies and infrastructure. As the industry became largely monopolized by a few major players, the future development will depend crucially on their ability to make investments and also on the growing environmental awareness of forests and the change to a low carbon economy, which would pose more challenges for the pulp and paper industry.