Bracke Forest Products take Root in Siberia

Thanks to the new partnership with a dealer in Siberia, Bracke Forest has delivered its first machine, (a trencher scarifier) in the area to the customer Ilim Group, which is a part of International Paper.

The Managing Director of Bracke Forest, Mr. Klas-Håkan Ljungberg, explains about this new delivery and the challenges the company expect to face in the Russian forestry market.

What can you tell us about Bracke’s new dealer in Siberia?

This year, Timbermash Baikal celebrates its 15-year anniversary as a John Deere dealer. The company became an official Bracke dealer in January 2018. It is active within the forestry, agriculture and construction equipment sectors. The owner and General Manager is Viktor Boldakov.

How important is the Russian market for Bracke’s products? Is this a market that appreciates the technological value of the product and its reliability?

It´s very important. Russia represents around 25% of Bracke’s total sales per year which makes Russia our most important export market alongside Canada.

Simplicity and reliability are probably the keys to our success in Russia, in combination with the fact that we have very good dealers there: Eco Wood in St. Petersburg for many years and now also Timbermash Baikal in Siberia.

Is this trencher scarifier an example to test the water or are other machines expected to be delivered?

The Bracke T26 has been a well-established product in Russia for many years. This was the first delivery by Timbermash who also are about to sell planters, mounders and more T26´s as well.

Are trencher scarifiers machines that require regular maintenance and therefore good service?

As mentioned above, our trenchers, T26 and T35, are very simple and reliable, but of course they demand some maintenance as any other machine does. The fact that many Bracke machine components are custom made, and can´t be purchased elsewhere, makes it important to have a good service organization for repair and spare parts, which both Eco Wood and Timbermash provide.

What are the main features and strengths of this machine delivered to Ilim Group compared to the same equipment produced by competitors?

In this size of trenchers and mounders, 3 – 5 tonnes, we don´t really have any competitors, it´s a small market in total. Up until recently we had a small trencher, the T21, but we stopped making that one, partly because of heavy competition from Polish and Baltic models that are available at 25% of our prices. The strength of our heavier equipment is the quality and reliability – you can keep a T26 running for long time with low costs.

What are the future prospects for Bracke Forest within the Russian forestry market?

The prospects in Russia are good as developments in techniques and methods are still going on there. A future challenge for Bracke would be introducing the planters, and maybe to some extent the mounders. Here we are racing against competition on many markets. So far, the trenchers have been dominating in Russia – and everywhere else.