A survey by Roslesinforg shows that 35% of harvesting enterprises are ready to purchase forestry machinery made in Russia

In June 2023, Roslesinforg conducted a survey about harvesting machinery use among Russian timber enterprises.  Over 1,500 industry representatives completed the questionnaire.

The timber machinery fleet of Russian harvesting enterprises is still mostly comprised of equipment made abroad. Harvesters and forwarders by John Deere and Ponsee remain in the highest demand. The top 3 most sought-after machines also include tractors, with MTZ Belarus being the most popular.

Despite the existing limitations, harvesting enterprises still prefer imported machinery. However, 35% of companies are ready to purchase Russian-made forestry machinery, both new and used.

According to survey results, over 80% of market participants do not intend to sell anything from their fleet, and over 70% plan no new purchases. At the same time, 30% of market players do not exclude purchasing machinery.

Most do not plan any large-scale purchases at the moment. If necessary, the majority of respondents would still prefer foreign-made machinery, either new or used.

Approximately the same is true for spare parts. Spare parts, however, are already needed today, and in this case, harvesting enterprises’ preferences distributed as follows: 33.7% purchase new parts via parallel import; 20.4% purchase imported used parts, and the same percentage, new Russian-made spare parts; 17.3% use spare parts from their existing fleet; and 8.2% make parts in-house.

These survey results confirm that Russian harvesting is still dependent on the imported equipment to a large extent, the timber accounting agency emphasizes.