In January-May 2022, Russia reduced log exports by 3 million m3, according to Lesprom Analytics data. Supplies to the European Union decreased by 1.4 million m3, and to China by 1.6 million m3.
In the first five months of 2022, log exports from Russia to the European Union fell by 72% year-on-year to 563,000 m3. The value of exports fell 69% to $31 million, while the average price increased 10% to $56 per m3.
Russian log exports to China fell by 57% year-on-year to 1.21 million m3. The value of exports fell 56% to $156 million, while the average price rose 1% to $129 per m3.
From January 1, 2022, Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia introduced prohibitive duties on the export of softwood logs and logs of valuable species (oak, beech and ash) on behalf of President Vladimir Putin. At the same time, exports of other types of wood, in particular birch logs, to the European Union continued.
Since April, Russian exports to the European Union have been stopped by the decision of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to ban the export of wood to "unfriendly" countries. This ban is valid until the end of 2022. As the ministry explained, the purpose of the ban is "to prevent European producers from increasing the capacity of their own plant at the expense of Russian raw materials". The ban applies to wood chips, logs and veneer.
According to Rosstat, timber harvesting in Russia in January-May remained at the level of the previous year (+0.32% or 255 thousand m3) and amounted to 78.6 million m3. The largest harvesting volumes are in the North-Western Federal District (34% share), the Siberian Federal District (32%) and the Volga Federal District (14%). In the NWFD, in the first five months of 2022, timber harvesting decreased by 5.2%, or by 1.5 million m3, to 26.6 million m3; in the Siberian Federal District, it increased by 2.5%, to 25.4 million m3; Volga Federal District - increased by 3.1% to 10.9 million m3.
Reduced log exports and domestic consumption, while holding harvest levels at last year's levels, are putting pressure on log prices, which have been declining in Russia for several months of 2022.
At the same time Norway became the largest supplier of logs to the EU instead of Russia which had a share of 49% in log imports to the EU in January-May 2021. in January-May 2022, Norway increased supplies by 42%, to 2.1 million m3 and country's share in the EU log imports reached 60%.
