“The country will get more timber processing capacities:” Viktoria Abramchenko about the problems that will be solved by banning roundwood export

In her interview for Russia 24 channel, Viktoria Abramchenko, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, explained which problems will be solved by banning the export of roundwood and roughly processed timber from Russia as of January 1, 2022.

“Firstly, there will be more wood processing capacities in our country, which means jobs and taxes. Secondly, this will solve the reforestation problem because legal and honest business working in the timber industry is interested in having raw material and restoring forest resources. To achieve that, we need to perform this task today – create tree farms in every subject of the Russian Federation,” Ms. Abramchenko commented.

Deputy Prime Minister was also asked whether the export ban will hurt small and medium-sized businesses.

“We are signalling the business. The government is ready to support good-faith small and medium-sized businesses. It means that the Ministry of Industry has special support measures. Both the President and the Ministry of Industry gave us this task – to make sure these support measures are available as of January 1, 2021 for small firms that used to harvest timber and sell roundwood, the measures supporting capacity growth and timber processing. Or, if the business doesn’t want to get involved in processing, it is welcome to sell forest that was harvested at its forest sites to our good-faith big timber enterprises. They need raw materials now. Inside the country,” Viktoria Abramchenko responded.