It will be no secret to anyone that the Russian timber industry is characterized by a rather low level of deep wood processing. Almost every Russian, answering a question about the problems of our timber industry, will give out a phrase learned by heart that in Russia they prefer to export unprocessed wood, without bothering to create and develop enterprises whose activities involve the mechanical processing of wood raw materials.
However, this is not entirely true, for example, in 2021, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation stated that over the past ten years, the volume of exports of commercial roundwood (the most unprocessed format of raw materials) from the country has decreased from 49 million cubic meters to 16 million cubic meters, that is decreased three times. In addition, from January 1, 2022, a de facto ban on the export of unprocessed roundwood was introduced in the country, with the exception of two checkpoints Lytta (Finland) and Hasan (DPRK).
According to Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Viktor Yevtukhov, this measure should allow saving up to six million cubic meters of softwood in the country, which will be processed on the domestic market, resulting in an increase in the added value of exported products. Unfortunately, the events of 2022 do not allow us to fully evaluate the first results of changes in the forest industry; due to sanctions pressure, timber export has become quite problematic even without a ban.
It is also worth paying attention to the fact that on February 11, 2021, the “Strategy for the Development of the Forest Complex of the Russian Federation until 2030” was adopted, which defines the most significant problems of domestic forestry, suggests ways to solve existing vulnerabilities in the industry. Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin stressed that the new Strategy consolidates the transition to the intensive model of forestry management that the country needs so much. The document deals with the problems associated with the use, protection, protection and reproduction of forests, the improvement of forest supervision, technical modernization of timber industry enterprises, decriminalization and digitalization of the industry itself. But, as expected, many experts and representatives of the timber industry were dissatisfied with the work of the Government of the Russian Federation on this issue, saying that the new Strategy largely does not correspond to existing realities, the conceptual apparatus presented in the document needs to be revised.
As mentioned above, the sanctions hit the Russian timber industry quite hard. So, on July 10, 2022, states unfriendly to our country introduced a ban on the import of mineral fertilizers and timber from the Russian Federation. In addition, an embargo was imposed on the export to Russia of various high-tech products used in timber processing enterprises. Similar policy of our partners has led the Russian authorities to search for ways out of the current situation, which consists in revising the priorities in the development of the country's forestry, transforming logistics export routes and focusing on the domestic market.
In 2022, within the framework of the International Forum "Russian Forest Industry: Harvesting, Processing, Production", held at the end of March in Moscow, experts from the Analytical Center under the Government of the Russian Federation once again briefly went through the list of traditional and painfully hackneyed problems characteristic of the domestic timber industry. complex. It was told about the inefficiency of forest management, about the work of companies in economic unattractive areas, the low density of forest roads and transport routes, the opacity of the market and the rather low profitability of the industry. Now this list has been supplemented by the problem of the attempts of the West to isolate Russia economically. Expert Andrey Peshkov stressed that it is necessary to start developing a new economic policy for the timber industry, which should be aimed at creating new relations between producers and consumers of products.
After a thorough discussion, taking into account the current economic and political situation, the participants of the event identified the main measures to support the timber industry. So, it is suggested:
- lower the threshold for entry into the markets of states that are not unfriendly, such a decision, simply speaking, means Russia's reorientation towards the Asian consumer;
- completely abandon or reduce duties on equipment, components, and spare parts that have no analogues in the Russian Federation, coming from other countries, which will allow companies to offset the losses received against the backdrop of sanctions;
– provide priority access to the railway infrastructure for companies in the industry in order to redirect high value-added products from existing export markets to new ones;
– introduce a moratorium on the termination of forest lease agreements, which will allow companies time to solve more significant financial problems;
- to create and develop engineering centers on the basis of higher educational institutions to stimulate forestry engineering, which will subsequently lead to a decrease in import dependence and to overcome the technological gap.
At present, the situation in the industry is in many respects a turning point. A new challenge has been added to the problems that have been accumulating for a long time, consisting in sanctions pressure on our country. In such conditions, industry representatives must rebuild logistics and cope with financial difficulties as soon as possible in order to maintain their position in the market. The state should not stand aside either; by its actions, it should take into account both the interests of business representatives and the development of the country's timber industry as a whole.