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For years, the Czech Republic has been the largest exporter of raw wood in the European Union. Last year, however, trucks exported the fewest logs from Czech forests since 2018. The reason was mainly a reduction in logging, which peaked at the height of the bark beetle calamity between 2019 and 2021. However, according to people in the industry, there are also the first signs of a higher domestic demand for wood.<\/span><\/p>\n Economists have been pointing out for years that the country loses tens of billions of crowns a year through the massive export of unprocessed wood, i.e. without added value. Support for domestic sawmills and greater use of wood, for example in public buildings , was also promised by the government.<\/p>\n \"It's a confirmation of the trend that logging is going down from 2021. It was predictable that exports would also go down,\" comments Executive Director of the Association of Forestry and Wood Processing Enterprises Ivan \u0160ev\u010d\u00edk. More importantly, according to \u0160ev\u010d\u00edk, last year's lower export of 7.3 million cubic meters represents a smaller share of exports in total production than before. For example, in 2020, when loggers extracted a record amount of almost 36 million cubic meters of logs, mainly due to the bark beetle calamity, the Czech Republic exported more than half of this amount.<\/p>\n \"For last year, exports will certainly be less than half of the harvested wood. Most of the logs are processed here,\" says \u0160ev\u010d\u00edk. And this despite the fact that exact figures on the amount of extraction in Czech forests for the year 2022 are not available, except for the state company Lesy \u010cR , where it fell from 11 to nine million cubic meters. However, according to preliminary data from the Czech Ministry of Agriculture, it should decrease by 15 to 20 percent compared to 2021.<\/p>\n However, the manager points out that sawmills in the Czech Republic have become stronger in the last three years. In 2020, the Austrian company Labe Wood opened a new sawmill with a capacity of one million cubic meters of cut wood per year in \u0160t\u011bt\u00ed. This alone increased the capacity of domestic sawmills by more than a tenth, from 8.7 million cubic meters in 2019 to 9.7. Last year, Stora Enso also expanded its operations in \u017dd\u00edrc nad Doubravau.<\/p>\n \u201cBut other sawmills have also maintained or in some cases increased the amount of wood processed, specifically for the production of paper or viscose pulp. These are not increases of the order of tens of percent, but it is gradual, units of percent,\" says \u0160ev\u010d\u00edk. The recovery is also confirmed by the owner of Pila Pas\u00e1k from Plan\u00e1 nad Lu\u017enic\u00ed, Lubo\u0161 Pas\u00e1k . \"The interest in wood is slightly greater. The forests of the Czech Republic have started to supply more to local processors, the interest of the state in supporting Czech sawmills is beginning to be seen,\" he says.<\/p>\n According to the spokesman of the Ministry of Agriculture, Vojt\u011bch B\u00edl\u00e9, the state-owned company has actually reduced the export of raw wood and is now supplying significantly more to Czech sawmills. \"In 2022, regional processors were guaranteed a supply of wood in the amount of at least 200,000 cubic meters, for 2023 the volume was increased to 350,000,\" the spokesperson points out.<\/p>\n In its program statement, the government signed up to support the domestic wood processing industry and increase the share of wood use in the Czech economy. Apart from the greater friendliness of state foresters towards Czech sawmills, the most visible step so far is the preparation of the so-called raw material policy. The document should be an analysis of the field and its possibilities for the future and is created under the patronage of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague and its Faculty of Forestry and Wood.<\/p>\n According to B\u00edl\u00ed, the government should receive its final form by the end of the year. \u201cWe need to know what wood resources we have now and what we will have in 50 years. We need to make it clear what species composition of forests we stand for in the context of climate change. We need to identify all processing capacities,\" says one of its authors, forestry analyst Ale\u0161 Erber. According to him, a marketing campaign is also being prepared for greater use of wood.<\/p>\n According to experts, the legislation and regulations, which are currently unfavorable for greater use of wood and especially wooden construction in the country, must also undergo changes. \"For example, the highest permissible building height is 12 meters, we also have a very strict set of fire regulations, a considerable length of permit periods,\" calculates \u0160ev\u010d\u00edk.<\/p>\n At the same time, unlike concrete or bricks, wood binds carbon and has a number of other advantages. Construction is faster, more ecological, less dusty, and wood also has very good fire safety parameters. In developed countries, wooden or combined buildings are in vogue, and high-rise buildings are being created as well.<\/p>\n Also in the Czech Republic recently, despite unfavorable conditions, projects are being created where wood is the main building material. The first apartment buildings are to be built in Prague , the new headquarters of Les\u016f \u010cR is to be made of wood, the Pardubick\u00fd Region is planning three wooden road bridges, the Railway Administration has announced a competition for architecture students to design a wooden stop.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For years, the Czech Republic has been the largest exporter of raw wood in the European Union. Last year, however, trucks exported the fewest logs from Czech forests since 2018. The reason was mainly a reduction in logging, which peaked … Continue reading