The new flexible hardwood sawmill inaugurated in Miskolc on Friday, which is medium sized in European comparison, but large for Hungary, was realised by WIS Holding Ltd. using over 981 million forints (EUR 3.27M) in funding received via the New Széchényi Plan.

Prior to the ceremony, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Minister of State for State-owned Lands, Márton Bitay, told Hungarian news agency MTI that Hungary’s 22 state forestries produce around 3-4 million cubic metres of wood each year, of which some 150 thousand cubic metres is oak, one of the most valuable.

The annual production capacity of the new plant, which was constructed at the Európa Center Miskolc Business and Logistics Park, is some 40 thousand cubic metres calculating with two shifts. Thanks to the flexible technologies applied, the plant is capable of processing all of the hardwood types that grow in Hungary (primarily beech and oak). The Minister of State emphasised that the new wood trade regulations are designed to ensure that Hungarian wood primarily reaches Hungarian enterprises and state wood processing plants.

Research for the project was performed by a ten-person research and development team targeting the development of green technology that enables optimal output, efficient waste processing, the development of the best possible logistics and environmentally friendly chemical and heat treatment. The results of the research were incorporated into the realisation of the project.

The building and storage facilities were planned and built according to state-of-the-art requirements. The technology used is environmentally friendly, meaning that wood arriving at the plant is 100% processed and use of fossil fuels is kept to an absolute minimum. The project was realised in Miskolc’s largest industrial park, the Európa Center Miskolc Business and Logistics Park, which provided the building and basic infrastructure.

The new plant will employ 5 administrative and management staff and 20 manual workers per shift. According to plan, the plant will process around 14 thousand cubic metres of logs in 2015 after which, once two-shift operations are launched, it will be capable of processing 40 thousand cubic metres of wood every year and will employ 40-50 people. The plant includes a 700 cubic metre capacity drying and steaming unit.

(Ministry of Agriculture)