Timber industry research & analytics Russian Timber Journal 08-2018: WhatWood interview with Sales Director for Russia, CIS and Baltic countries of UPM Plywood Oy, Alexander Totsky; export quotas on birch veneer logs from Russia starting from January 1, 2019
Alexander Totsky: “The key to the success of the enterprise on the market is the production of a wide range of demanded types of plywood of consistent high quality”.
Russia is a major supplier of birch plywood for export. However, usually most manufacturers for both domestic and foreign markets offer general-purpose products with low added value. Sales Director for Russia, CIS and Baltic countries of UPM Plywood Oy, Alexander Totsky, told WhatWood about the conditions under which plywood enterprises of our country continue to work and what Russian manufacturers should pay attention to in order to improve their positions on the world market.
In the “Strategy for the Development of the Forest Complex until 2030” project, a forecast was made that in the conservative scenario the demand for birch plywood in the world by 2025-2030 will amount to 5.8 million m3 (+1.3 million m3 by 2015), including outside Russia: +1.0 million m3. Do you think these are achievable indicators?
– I think that the project contains real figures. Despite the fact that demand will not increase without an increase in supply, an increase in supply will be significant by 2030. Prior to this period, a lot of investment projects were announced and some of them are already being implemented, which means that the supply deficit, which periodically appears on certain markets, will be less. As a result, it will be possible for consumers to more accurately predict the need for plywood and accordingly plan their activities, which will lead to increased consumption of plywood in traditional markets. At the same time, large players will begin investing in production of special purpose products (plywood for LNG tankers, for the transport industry, for construction, etc.).
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The Government has introduced export quotas on birch veneer logs from Russia starting from January 1, 2019
On July 17, 2018, Dmitry Medvedev, the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, signed Regulation No. 836 “On Introduction of Temporary Quantitative Limitation on Birch Veneer Logs Export from Russia to Non-Eurasian Economic Union States”.
In accordance with the Federal Law “On the Fundamentals of the State Regulation of Foreign Trade Activity” and the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union of May 29, 2014 (Annex No. 7), the Russian Government has established quantitative limitations (quota) on exports of birch veneer logs (Betula spp.) with the smallest cross-section diameter of no less than 15 cm and at least 1 m long (HS code 4403 95 000 1 in the Foreign Economic Activity Commodity Nomenclature of the Eurasian Economic Union) from Russia for the period from January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019. This raw material is determined by the Russian Government as “essentially important for the domestic market”. The volume of quota is set at the amount of 567,000 m3.
Birch veneer logs exports will be carried out in accordance with the…
Birch veneer logs exports from Russia by producers and countries in 2017-2018; quota allocation between birch veneer logs exporters and exports and imports structure of forest products by value in Russia for 20 years — read in the latest issue of the analytical Journal of Russian Timber Journal №08-2018.
