WhatWood: Demand for Russian plywood on export markets will grow

Under conditions of restoring global economy, demand for Russian birch plywood will not show any signs of declining, with exports growing moderately, as said in the new study of analytic department of WhatWood News & Analytics, “Plywood market in Russia in 2012 – H1 2013”.

New regulations in EU and USA will also foster growing exports of Russian plywood. Middle and small plywood enterprises will upgrade, focusing on large-format plywood, so this assortment will grow its share on the market.

Following the results of 2012, share of Russian plywood in global production amounted to 3.6%, and demand for Russian birch plywood remains stable for several years in a row (except for crisis in 2008 and 2009 when the demand contracted by 8-10%).

Share of US in Russian plywood export sales in 2012 amounted to 14% or 221,800 m3 in physical volumes, which is 8.2% higher year-on-year. This was possible due to growing construction sector in the US. In the first half of 2013, the trend continued: plywood sales grew 16.8% on-year up to 125,700 m3.

Despite tense politic environment in Egypt during the whole 2012, sales to this country grew by 25% to reach 218,000 m3. In the first half-year of 2013, Egyptian market declined slightly in volume (-1.2%), but compared to high volumes set in H1 2012, this does not look considerable.

Imported plywood does not play significant role on the home market in Russia. Annual imports during the last ten years were around 40-50 thousand m3, with 70-80% being imported from China. However, in 2012 there has been wide growth – by 36% to 93,600 m3, out of which 77% were from China. In the first half-year of 2013, this trend also continued, with imports reaching 56,900 m3 (83% from China) – 33% higher than a year ago.

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