WhatWood chief editor Kirill Baranov gave a report at the Ligna trade fair in Hanover

On May 24, 2017, a presentation of Russian producers of biofuel and sawnwood took place within the framework of the Ligna trade fair in Hanover, Germany. WhatWood chief editor Kirill Baranov presented an analytical report on the “Russian sawmilling industry: design capacities, competitive environment and market outlets” topic. The event took place for the first time and was organized by the IAA INFOBIO and the LesPromInform magazine supported by Wood Industry Summit.

The main theses of Kirill Baranov’s report:

• In 2016, European consumer markets have shown growth: revenue in construction, production of furniture, parquet and wooden containers increased. The growth drivers are Germany and Great Britain. At the moment, commercial construction is growing more dynamically than house construction.
• Chinese market actively develops: consumers specify new requirements to quality and are ready to additionally pay for it. Russian companies expand into new premium niches, start sales in new regions. Plants from the European part of the Russian Federation actively penetrate into China as well. The tendency began in secured southern provinces; then, Russian sawnwood penetrated into central regions of China.
• Export of sawn softwood from Russia increased by 11% to 24.8 million m3 in 2016, $2.9 billion (+4%) in financial terms. Segezha Group has become the largest Russian exporter of sawnwood (900 thousand m3) after the purchase of Lesosibirsky LDK No.1.
• According to the results of 2016, the load of large sawmills of Russia has increased and amounts to 80–95%.

Full presentation is provided upon request at zakaz@whatwood.ru

Representatives of the First Saint Petersburg biofuel terminal, Sverdlovsk and Kirov regions, enterprises from Irkutsk (Shelokhovsky DOZ) and Arkhangelsk (Ustyansky Timber Industry Complex) regions also gave speech at the event. A similar presentation is planned to be held at the next Ligna trade fair in 2019. This presentation will be of interest to companies which already work in the field of foreign economic activity as well as to those who plan to enter the western market.

Ligna is the largest specialized trade fair for wood processing, which is held in Germany once in two years. In 2017, more than 1,500 exhibitors from 45 countries of the world were placed on an area of 122 thousand sq. m. Among the participants of the exhibition were representatives of large European energy, construction and trading concerns which specialize on purchasing biofuel and sawnwood, timber manufacturers and representatives of industry associations and departments.