The main buyer of Russian softwood sawn timber is China with a volume of 1.22 million m³ which corresponds to a 6% decrease compared to 2019. Developments differed on the other export markets. Kazakhstan bought nearly 500,000 m³ in the first eight months, i.e. 127.9% more than last year. Double-digit increases were recorded in exports to Finland (+34.5%), Great Britain (+30.8%), Uzbekistan (+14.8%), Estonia (+13.9%) and Germany (+15.2%). Exports to Egypt (-29.8%) and Japan (-6.7%), on the other hand, decreased. Overall, Russian softwood sawn timber exports fell by only 0.1% from 2.106 million m³ in the first eight months of 2019 to 2.103 million m³ in the same period of this year.
Needless to say, the stop to log exports from 2022 announced by Russian president Wladimir Putin at the beginning of October is not yet reflected in these figures. Also, it remains to be seen whether the announced subsidy program for the creation of further processing capacities in Russia will have an effect and whether this will be reflected in softwood sawn timber exports as a result.
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