{"id":77643,"date":"2019-06-19T08:25:54","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T08:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tin.happy-projects.ro\/current-trends-in-the-russian-wood-product-industry\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T08:51:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T08:51:00","slug":"current-trends-in-the-russian-wood-product-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.timberindustrynews.com\/ro\/current-trends-in-the-russian-wood-product-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Current trends in the Russian wood product industry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Russian wood product industry is one of the world\u2019s most dynamic ones thanks to its increasing domestic processing of roundwood and production of higher value-added products oriented towards exports. The Russian wood product industry produces sawnwood and different wood-based panels. In 2018, these valued almost USD 10 billion, over 1\/3 of the total Russian forest industry output. European part of Russia is the leader in wood-based panels production, while Siberia is the largest producer of sawnwood.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The key factor in Russia\u2019s wood industry competitiveness is the low cost of raw material. Russia has one of the lowest log costs among the main competing suppliers. For the last couple of years, the soft log cost has been between USD 40-50 per m3. For example, this is about 25% of the price level in China. Part of the favourable development when compared to the main competing countries, is caused by the low value of the Rubble. In local currency, however, the prices have increased considerably, and are continuing to climb. Labour cost is also low, and the wood product sector is still heavily labour intensive in Russia, still among the most intensive among the main competing countries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sawnwood<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sawnwood output in Russia, mainly softwood, has more than doubled since 2000, and has been almost 40 million m3\u00a0in 2018. Most of the producers, especially large-scale ones, focus their sales on the export market. China, Central Asia and the Middle East account for over 80% of total export volume. Despite the low raw material costs, there are several challenges on sawnwood production. Unlike in many competing areas, stumpage value in Russia is low, and log cost consists mainly of harvesting and transports. Thus, market drivers that may decline the stumpage prices have a smaller impact to the log cost than in competing countries. Road infrastructure will continue to pose a challenge, and capital investments in forest infrastructure are needed.<\/p>\n

The sawnwood industry should aim at improving the labour productivity, investing in infrastructure, increasing the value of its products and utilising by-products more efficiently. The current good-quality raw material allows the production of higher value products, such as planed, machine stress rated (MSR), modified\/treated products, CLT, EWPs, etc. There is a growing demand for these types of products, especially in view of the global tendency of using more renewable construction materials. For example, high-rise wooden residential construction is increasing rapidly in many of the competing countries. Russian producers may have a share in this market, but it calls for investments into the sector.<\/p>\n

Wood-based Panels \u2013 Plywood<\/strong><\/p>\n

The wood-based panels sector is developing quite rapidly in Russia. The production volumes almost doubled over the last 5 years and reached around 18 million m3\u00a0in 2018. Main causes for the increase were strong production and high domestic demand for particleboard, a growing share of MDF and OSB, and well-established, world market-driven plywood manufacturing. Russia is the biggest producer of birch plywood and the local companies are increasing their presence in the global market. Since 2010, plywood output increased from 2.3 million m3\u00a0to more than 3.5 million m3, which corresponds to about 3 million m3\u00a0increase of domestic birch logs consumption.<\/p>\n

In the long-term, global birch plywood consumption is expected to grow from the current 4,5 million m3\u00a0to nearly 6 million m3\u00a0in 2030. Most of this increase is expected to be satisfied by Russian plywood. Currently, there are more than 10 announced birch plywood production projects in the pipeline, both expansions of existing facilities and greenfield sites, initiated by already operating plywood companies. If all publicly announced projects materialise, the total domestic birch plywood log consumption will grow by nearly 30% and may increase the birch log deficit already tormenting the sector. There are several reasons, why the availability of high-quality raw material is a challenge:<\/p>\n