WhatWood Agency has completed an update to its annual survey Plywood market in Russia 2019-2020

In 2019 plywood production in Russia did not change significantly compared to 2018 and was at the level of 4 million m³. Softwood plywood is produced by two factories located in Siberia – Ilim Timber in Bratsk and Krasfan. Plywood oversupply on the global market and low prices held back the growth of production in Russia, despite low prices and a surplus of supply for veneering wood on the domestic market.

The installed plywood production capacity is 5.2 million m³. The capacities of plywood mills continue to grow mainly due to organic growth and spot investment projects for modernization at existing plants, commissioning of new capacities (Zheshartsky plywood mill, Murashinsky plywoodmill, UPM Chudovo). The average annual growth rate of plywood production in Russia over the past 5 years amounted to 4%, the average industry load of enterprises – 75%. Over the past 4 years, plywood consumption in the domestic market has stabilized at 1.4 million m³ per year.

The Russian government imposed a temporary restriction on the export of birch veneering wood for the period from January to June 2019. As a result of the introduced quotas, all Russian factories received almost unlimited access to high-quality veneering wood. The measures introduced turned out to be somewhat belated: demand and prices in the global market were sluggish throughout the year, and the prices in the domestic market fell by 25%, thereby putting the procurement industry on the brink of survival.

Since February 2020 the global market has seen a recovery in plywood prices by 10-12% to the level of Q4 2019 due to a decrease in tropical plywood production in China and a subsequent decline in export. Further price dynamics will depend on the state of the world market conditions: in general, in the first half of 2020, the world market remains in surplus supply of plywood, and the recession caused by COVID-19 in the countries that are key consumers of plywood may negatively affect consumption.

Read about the state of the Russian plywood market in 2019-2020, announced and implemented investment projects, production and export by all producers (including by format) – subscribe on the latest review.