Russian timber companies are calling for changes to new forest-management rules that could complicate access to leased timber and create additional risks for sawmills and other wood processors.<\/p>\n
The rules, due to take effect in September 2027, will make forest leaseholders responsible for ensuring that required inventory and planning work is completed on time.<\/p>\n
Companies say delays are already common because much of the work depends on Roslesinforg, the state forest inventory organisation. Some projects have reportedly been delayed by several months and, in certain cases, by close to a year.<\/p>\n
This creates a problem for leaseholders. If the required documentation is not completed on time, companies could face penalties or eventually risks to their forest leases even when the delay was outside their control.<\/p>\n
At a meeting of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry\u2019s forest-sector committee on September 9, companies asked for more flexibility. They want qualified third parties to be allowed to carry out part of the work and safeguards against sanctions when deadlines are missed for reasons beyond the leaseholder\u2019s control.<\/p>\n
Segezha Group vice-president Nikolai Ivanov said companies should not be penalised when they have fulfilled their own obligations but the required work has not been completed.<\/p>\n
Rosleskhoz says there is no large shortage of capacity and that Roslesinforg has sufficient staff and equipment. The Ministry of Natural Resources also says certified external specialists can already be involved.<\/p>\n
The issue comes at a difficult time for Russian sawmills, which are also opposing proposals to allow limited exports of logs currently covered by restrictions.<\/p>\n
Those quotas could give Chinese mills access to more Russian sawlogs and reduce demand for Russian softwood lumber. The forest-management rules create a different risk: processors could face more uncertainty over timber coming from their own leased forests.<\/p>\n
Alexander Diatlov, chairman of the forestry committee in the Arkhangelsk regional parliament, has criticised both the possible reopening of log exports and the new forest-management requirements.<\/p>\n
Both issues affect the same part of the business: access to sawlogs.<\/p>\n
The government says companies have until 2030 to adapt to the new system. Timber companies want clearer safeguards before the new rules begin to affect existing leases.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russian timber companies are calling for changes to new forest-management rules that could complicate access to leased timber and create additional risks for sawmills and other wood processors.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n