Many exporters of the Russian timber industry are suffering losses because of the coronavirus. The majority were forced to change their strategies and look for new markets. However, this opportunity is not available to everybody. Even more so because the restrictions caused by the coronavirus epidemic are not the first and potentially not the hardest blows on the export expansion of the timber industry, including to China.

According to the Federal Service for National Statistics, exports from the timber industry, one of the leading sectors of the Russian economy, are the sixth largest in the structure of Russian exports (3.1% in 2018). At the same time, the scope of demand for Russian wood from China that has been our number one partner in the past years (21.9% of all foreign trade) is twice as high as the average figure, with exports of Russian timber and wooden products having the second largest share (6.3%) in the total exports to this country. Between 2015 and 2018, the value of exports to China increased by over 50%, with the growth rate reaching almost 8% in 2017 alone.