The effects of the war launched by Russia are reflected in the market for forest industry products in many ways.\u00a0In the short term, demand for Finnish forest industry products looks strong, but there is a lot of uncertainty about the future.<\/p>\n
A few forest industry products stand out from trade between Finland and Russia, where Russia has played an important role.\u00a0In trade from Russia to Finland, this is the case, for example, with newsprint.\u00a0More than half of its imports came from Russia in 2020. In terms of volume, imports have been small, but even the decline is increasing the plight of Finnish printing houses, whose operations are hampered by the current shortage of paper.\u00a0The supply of paper is reduced by domestic production, which is at a standstill, especially due to downtime.<\/p>\n
Imports of sawn timber from Russia and Belarus came to a halt when forest certification schemes declared Russian timber a conflict tree.\u00a0Last year, about 7.5 million cubic meters of sawn timber were imported into Europe from these countries.\u00a0By comparison, last year Finland's exports to Europe were 4.2 million cubic meters.\u00a0The import ban will increase the demand for Finnish sawn timber in Europe and Finland, which will raise sawn timber prices in the spring.<\/p>\n
With these prospects, the market situation for sawn timber will change in the autumn.\u00a0With the war, the prices of building materials rise, which increases the costs of construction companies.\u00a0The construction projects started are likely to be completed, but due to rising costs, some of the projects planned for the autumn will have to be put on ice.\u00a0This reduces the demand for construction and sawn timber as well as the price.<\/p>\n
The war will inevitably bring changes and friction to the trade in various forest industry products, which in the short term may be reflected in increased demand for Finnish products and rising prices.\u00a0The outlook for the rest of the year is already much more uncertain.\u00a0The war affects the market in so many ways: the availability of raw materials for products, production, logistics chains, trade and consumption.<\/p>\n
Cardboard is an important product in trade from Finland to Russia.\u00a0About a tenth of the exports of the most valuable board grades in particular have gone to Russia.\u00a0You now have to find a buyer for these products elsewhere.<\/p>\n
As for pulp, the effects of the war will be felt especially in the world market for the product.\u00a0A significant part of Finnish and Russian pulp is exported to China.\u00a0Only time will tell where and at what price China will import long-fiber softwood pulp in the future.\u00a0In terms of pulp production in Finland, it is critical to find alternative sources for raw wood previously imported from Russia.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The effects of the war launched by Russia are reflected in the market for forest industry products in many ways.\u00a0In the short term, demand for Finnish forest industry products looks strong, but there is a lot of uncertainty about the … Continue reading