A recent investigation by the Belarusian Investigative Center (BIC), conducted together with Turkish media outlet The Black Sea, alleges that Belarusian wood pellets continued reaching European Union markets through T\u00fcrkiye despite sanctions imposed on Belarusian wood products in 2022.<\/p>\n
According to the investigation, customs data from 2022 to 2025 identified 81 shipments of Belarusian pellets to T\u00fcrkiye with a declared value of approximately $750,000. The transactions reportedly involved 15 Belarusian companies, 11 Turkish companies and one Polish company. Investigators claim that seven Turkish companies acted as both importers and exporters, purchasing pellets from Belarus and subsequently selling pellets into the European Union.<\/p>\n
The report argues that T\u00fcrkiye became an increasingly important trade hub after the EU banned imports of Belarusian and Russian wood products. Citing regional analyst Ruslan Suleymanov, the investigation notes that T\u00fcrkiye emerged as one of the key countries used by Russian businesses to bypass sanctions, with new trading companies established to facilitate international transactions. Investigators suggest that similar mechanisms may have been used by Belarusian exporters.<\/p>\n
One case highlighted in the report involves Belarusian companies TDA Azimut Optyma and Kranatex-Bel. According to BIC, the companies supplied approximately 150,000 kg of wood pellets to Turkish company LSK Makro Agac Sanayi Ve Ticaret between 2022 and 2024. During the same period, LSK Makro reportedly exported around 900,000 kg of pellets to EU member states. Investigators state that international trade database records identified part of those exports as originating from Belarus and Russia.<\/p>\n
The report also identifies Polish company ANS Group as one of the European buyers supplied by the Turkish trader. At the time of the shipments, ANS Group was managed by Belarusian national Andrei Kunts, who also held an ownership stake in the company. According to the investigation, the Kunts family additionally owns timber trading company Kunctrade in Poland.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the case, Marcin Menkes, Professor at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics, stated that if a Polish company knowingly purchased Belarusian wood products through T\u00fcrkiye, such imports would still be covered by EU sanctions, regardless of the intermediate trade route used.<\/p>\n
In its response to investigators, ANS Group said it could not verify the findings regarding pellet origins and emphasized that it operates in accordance with applicable legal requirements, including EU sanctions regulations. The company stated that it verifies counterparties and trade documentation as part of its compliance procedures.<\/p>\n
The investigation comes against the backdrop of a sharp decline in Belarus' pellet industry following the loss of the EU market. According to BIC, Belarus established 64 pellet plants with a combined annual production capacity of around 900,000 tonnes. However, production reportedly fell to less than 30,000 tonnes during the first nine months of 2023, equivalent to only around 3% of installed capacity.<\/p>\n
The report also notes that T\u00fcrkiye's role in the European pellet market expanded significantly after sanctions were imposed. While Turkish pellet exports to the EU totaled only 22,000 tonnes in 2021, shipments reportedly increased by more than fivefold following the ban on imports from Belarus and Russia.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99045,"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-99043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n