The European Commission has opened an investigation into suspected circumvention of anti-dumping duties for birch plywood products produced in Russia which have entered the European Union market. In the course of the investigation, the European Commission intends to cooperate with the Woodstock Consortium, various associations and companies based in the European Union, including Latvijas Finieris, which together with Paged Group were the initiators of the investigation and are members of the Woodstock Consortium. The main objective of the investigation launched by the European Commission is to identify the companies involved in the potential infringements, as Latvijas Finieris reports.
In 2021, anti-dumping duties were imposed on birch plywood products produced in Russia to protect European Union producers against unfair trade practices. In 2022, in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission imposed sanctions against the aggressor country – preventing various product groups produced in Russia, including birch plywood, from being traded in the EU.
However, there are grounds to suspect that the anti-dumping duties and sanctions are circumvented through trade routes via Kazakhstan and Turkey. Following the imposition of sanctions, there has been a significant increase in imports of birch plywood from Russia into Turkey and, at the same time, the volumes of birch plywood imported from Turkey into the European Union have increased. On the other hand, available export data on transactions between Kazakhstan and the European Union show an increase in the volumes of birch plywood exported from Kazakhstan to the European Union. At the same time, neither Kazakhstan nor Turkey have ever been significant producers of birch plywood.
