Russian Timber Journal 05-2018: exclusive interview with the Director General of Sveza Group about improving the service and distribution system in plywood industry in Russia; announced greenfield investment project overview at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2018

In constantly changing market conditions, it can be difficult to remain a leader, to increase production capacity and to invest in modern technologies and equipment. How SVEZA Group manages to lead, is the question the correspondent of our agency asked the General Director of SVEZA, Anatoly Frishman.

— Anatoly, please tell us, how much do you think the plywood market, including large scale, has grown in Russia in comparison with the world market?

— Russia accounts for the largest share of world production of birch plywood. While domestic companies remain export-oriented. As far as I know, the level of consumption of plywood per capita in Russia is less than the level of consumption of plywood per capita in Europe. Therefore, domestic consumption is not always 100% guaranteed.

In my opinion, for the Russian plywood enterprises, one of the development areas can be called, firstly, the improvement of the product range being produced and, secondly, the development of service and distribution systems.

— How do you evaluate the sales volumes of plywood which have been produced by your company’s mills in 2017?

— In 2017, SVEZA mills produced…

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Outcomes of the 2018 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

The 2018 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum was held from the 24th to the 26th of May, 2018. WhatWood summarizes the main outcomes of the Forum in relation to the forest sector.

— Segezha Group will invest 1.35 billion rubles in the construction of a plant for CLT panels production, having a capacity of 35,000 m³ annually, at the Sokolsky DOK, which has already prepared the suitable site. Now pre-design works are being carried out, the necessary technical equipment are being selected. It is planned that the project will be implemented before 2020.

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State Duma deputies introduced a bill to impose a temporary ban on the export of unprocessed softwood for 10 years from Russia

The bill aims to introduce a temporary indirect ban on the export of softwood commercial wood (pine, spruce, fir, cedar and larch). According to the bill, in Art. 29 of the Forest Code it is proposed to introduce a new item: “Till December 31, 2030, harvesting of softwood commercial wood is allowed only for processing in the territory of the Russian Federation or for use without processing in the territory of the Russian Federation”.

In the explanatory note, it is reported that the situation with the export of timber, suitable for further processing, that is, softwood raw material…

Growing prices for standing timber and round timber in the UK; production of plywood, OSB, MDF / HDF and particleboard in Russia in 2017; overview of announced greenfield investment project at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2018 – read in the latest issue of the analytical Journal of Russian Timber Journal №05-2018.