Participants of St. Petersburg conference arranged by LespromInform and WhatWood adopted a resolution

Participants of the conference “Timber industry of Russia: searching of growth points”, co-organized by the LesPromInform business journal and WhatWood timber industry analytic agency with the support of Restec exhibition company, have adopted a resolution. Its text will be published for amendments and later sent to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Federal Forestry Agency.

The timber industry community pointed out several acute problems which have a practical solution at the same time:

1. Joint development of a modern sorting system, which will meet the realities of the market, replace the outdated GOST standards and facilitate access to export markets.

2. Review of the forest lease structure, cancellation of lease agreements for forestland reserved for infeasible and non-operating priority investment projects.

3. Organized support for exporters by the Russian trade missions abroad, support of the stands of Russian companies at trade fairs, promotion of regional brands (Arkhangelsk wood, Angara pine etc.)

4. Joint work on the development of intensive forest management and selective logging in the regions, including legislative matters, taking into account regional particularities.

5. Solution of the issue of multipurpose forestland use.

The conference was held on September 29 in PetroCongress centre, St. Petersburg. Among the companies presenting their reports were Ilim Timber, MM-Efimovsky, Novoyenisseysky LHK, Red October sawmill, Perm regional timber association, HolzProjekt Buro, Finnish natural resources institute LUKE, SENNEBOGEN, and WhatWood.

LesPromInform and WhatWood editorial offices have been cooperating for some time. Agency experts were preparing articles for the LesPromInform journal as well as the English-language Russian Forestry Review. WhatWood editor Kirill Baranov presented a report on the lumber export markets at the journal’s workshop on lumber business cost optimization in the autumn of 2014. In 2015, the journal and the agency decided to combine their efforts and expertise in arranging forest industry events. The conference in St. Petersburg will be the first event of this kind.