A plant to produce wooden chopsticks is being launched in Primorsky Region. The enterprise was built by a Free Port of Vladivostok (FPV) resident in the Olginsky District. Under an agreement with the Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (FEDC), PK Serafimovsky invested 14.8 million rubles in the project.

“Asian cuisine in the Far East is becoming more and more popular, so why bring chopsticks made abroad from our wood when you can start production here? We decided to use our skills and geographical location in the center of the Asia-Pacific region to implement a production project focused on both import substitution and export to Asian countries. To do this, we studied the organization of the process in China and Korea and are implementing a project in Primorsky Region,” said the company’s production director Nikolai Solovyov. 

As part of the project, a 720 sq. m. workshop was equipped with modern high-performance woodworking equipment - 27 machines, as well as a marking and packaging line. The equipment allows for the provision of a full production cycle from raw materials to finished products. The pride of entrepreneurs is the know-how in the design of the workshop, providing high efficiency and allowing for the optimal equipping of staff. At the start, the workshop will produce 6.75 million pairs of chopsticks, and in the future, entrepreneurs plan to reach 18 million pairs per month.

“We start with the production of Chinese chopsticks, which are square in cross section and connected to each other. Depending on the customer’s wishes, we can vary the size of the chopsticks, as well as brand them. In the future, we want to expand the range of chopsticks, as well as produce other small wooden products, such as toothpicks and ice cream sticks,” Mr. Solovyov said.

According to him, the project is highly competitive due to the lack of complex logistics, as well as Free Port of Vladivostok resident status. The preferential regime allows annulling income, land, and property taxes for the first five years, as well as enjoying a reduced single social tax rate of 7.6% for 10 years.

“The preferential FPV regime enables investors to implement projects in the Far East in various industries. Wood processing is one of the most important for the region. Today, 31 residents are involved in projects in the forestry industry. Some 14.8 billion rubles have been invested in them, with 5,200 jobs created. In fact, 9.4 billion rubles were invested, 3,100 jobs were created, and 14 projects were fully implemented. The FEDC comprehensively accompanies residents’ projects, ensures the application of state support measures, provides businesses with marketing, legal, and other assistance, including helping to attract personnel to production, and establish cooperation ties,” said Managing Director of the Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation Sergei Skaliy.

As a reminder the preferential regime of the Free Port of Vladivostok is extended to 22 municipalities in five regions of the Far East. Under agreements with the FEDC, more than 2,000 residents are implementing projects with a total investment of 1.25 trillion rubles, which will provide jobs for more than 95,000 people. Some 282.6 billion rubles in private investments have already been invested in the creation of new enterprises in the district, and 31,800 jobs have been created. Since 2022, the Free Port of Vladivostok has become an attractive area for small businesses as well. The minimum capital investment threshold for obtaining FPV resident status is 10 times – from 500,000 to 5 million rubles

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