Log Rus – Newspaper Kommersant No. 15 (7460) of 01/27/2023

Over the year of restrictions on the export of roundwood from Russia, its exports abroad have expectedly fallen by about 70%, to 3.5–3.8 million cubic meters. China remains the main importer of Russian round timber, followed by Finland and Belarus. Some market participants and carriers consider the ban to be effective in stimulating domestic processing, noting the increase in timber transport within the country. But other players do not count on a significant increase in demand in the Russian Federation.

Exports of unprocessed timber from Russia fell by 70% in 2022, to 3.8 million cubic meters, according to Roslesinforga. Similar figures are provided by WhatWood: according to the agency, deliveries abroad have fallen three times, to 3.5 million cubic meters. In general, the total volume of exports of raw wood and sawn timber in 2022 amounted to 27.1 million cubic meters, Roslesinforge told Kommersant.

Most of all deliveries (59% of the total volume), they noted, fell on China, although a drop of 63% was noted in this direction, to 2.25 million cubic meters. Finland has traditionally become the leader among unfriendly countries in terms of imports of Russian round timber, having purchased 789 thousand cubic meters, 95% of which fell on the first quarter. In general, for the year, deliveries to this country fell by 84%.

Belarus is in third place in terms of purchases of Russian raw timber. Export there, on the contrary, increased by 18%, up to 242 thousand cubic meters. In general, 471 thousand cubic meters were supplied to the EAEU countries, which is two times less than in 2021. In addition to Belarus, growth in sales of roundwood was noted in the UAE (by 53%, up to 4.6 thousand cubic meters), South Korea (by 106%, up to 6.3 thousand cubic meters), the Marshall Islands (by 76%, up to 3, 64 thousand cubic meters).

The drop in exports of round timber was predictable given the ban on the export of unprocessed or roughly processed coniferous and valuable hardwoods (oak, beech, ash) from Russia, introduced on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation, which came into force on January 1, 2022. And from July 10, 2022, the EU imposed an embargo on the import of almost all products of the Russian timber industry.

As Director of Roslesinforg Pavel Chashchin notes, a sharp drop in roundwood supplies abroad in 2022 indicates the effectiveness of the introduced restriction.

The growth of internal processing was indirectly confirmed by Russian Railways. As Aleksey Shilo, deputy head of the transport monopoly, said the day before, timber transportation for processing enterprises in the Far East and Eastern Siberia increased by more than a third. “As you know, a number of regulatory measures have been taken to prevent the round timber from leaving the country in order to stimulate deeper processing. For our part, in 2022 we observed very well that this system began to work, that is, transportation of round timber to processing enterprises inside the Eastern landfill increased by almost 36%,” he said.

At the same time, President Vladimir Putin in mid-January called the work on the development of timber processing insufficient. Kommersant’s sources doubt that in the near future one should count on an active growth in wood processing within the country, since the main volumes of goods such as plywood, cardboard and paper bags were exported to Europe. At the same time, demand in the domestic market is limited and its active growth is not predicted in the coming years, market participants add. The difficult situation in the timber industry and the decline in production are already being discussed at the highest level. In February, another meeting on this issue should be held with Vladimir Putin.

Olga Mordyushenko