BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 30. Construction of the full-cycle industrial and environmental wood processing park “EcoForest” has begun in Semey, Abai Region, the regional administration’s press service announced.
Speaking at the ceremony, Abai Region Governor Berik Uali highlighted that the project would become an important contribution to the region’s industrial and investment development, create new jobs and introduce modern technologies for efficient and comprehensive processing of wood resources.
“The implementation of the project will make a significant contribution to the industrial and environmental development of the region, create new jobs, introduce modern technologies and ensure efficient, comprehensive and waste-free processing of wood raw materials,” Uali said.
The EcoForest project is designed to process timber affected by forest fires and subject to sanitary logging, produce high-value-added products, reuse production waste and strengthen the industrial potential of the region.
The total investment in the project amounts to $67 million. The main industrial and environmental wood processing park will be built on a 50-hectare site in Semey, while a primary wood processing complex will be established on a 4-hectare area in Mikhailovka village, Borodulikha district.
The Semey facility will be able to process up to 2 million cubic meters of wood raw materials annually and produce 800,000–900,000 cubic meters of finished products per year. The park will include production facilities for E1, E0 and ENF-class wood boards, OSB and FOSB panels, furniture components, thermally modified and antiseptically treated wood, Euro pallets, wood pellets, biofuel and organic fertilizers, as well as construction and logistics facilities.
The primary processing complex in Borodulikha district will have a capacity of up to 500,000 cubic meters of wood per year and will produce 120,000–150,000 tonnes of pellets annually. The facility will carry out timber reception, sorting, debarking, cutting, sawing, drying and preparation of raw materials for further deep processing at the main production site in Semey.
The enterprises will use modern automated production technologies based on waste-free deep processing of wood. The project will enable the production of OSB, FOSB, MDF and particle boards, plywood, veneer, engineered and finishing panels, furniture blanks, wood pellets, biofuel and organic fertilizers.
Once fully operational, the facilities are expected to create up to 900 permanent jobs. Products manufactured at the park will be supplied to Kazakhstan’s domestic market and exported to Central Asian countries, Europe, Japan, South Korea and other international markets.
The full commissioning of the project is scheduled for 2028. The project is being implemented jointly with China’s Xinjiang Chunzheng Aosi Trading Co., Ltd.
In 2026, Abai Region plans to implement 41 investment projects worth 131.2 billion tenge ($276 million). Since the beginning of the year, 14 projects with a total value of 34.62 billion tenge ($73 million) have already been commissioned.
