Russia

The many wildfires in Russia which are currently raging, in particular in the Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh and Ryazan regions, follow an unprecedented heat wave with temperatures reaching past 38C.

According to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Russia is to come to the terms in the field of export duties on roundwood. Moreover, Russia itself offered the EU to significantly increase  export duties on deciduous wood.

Russia is ready to increase export duties by tens %. It will mostly concern birch that is widely used in the Finnish industry, whereas in Russia this kind of wood is not practically processed by the Russian companies.

China’s potential fibre-supply gap (the difference between total demand and total domestic supply) is projected to reach approximately 150 million m3 (roundwood equivalent) by 2015 - or a volume that is more than the entire Canadian timber harvest in 2009 - a strong indication that China’s wood imports must continue to rise in the short- to medium-term period to match with projected consumption reports International WOOD Markets Group,.

There are 5 investment projects that are currently being realized in the Arkhangelsk region and are included in the list of priority investment projects. Total investment volume amounts to RUR 20 bln (EUR 0.5 bln).

Safwood (Italy) is to launch OSB production in the Komi Republic by February 2012. The mill will be constructed from scratch with investment volume amounting to EUR 125 mln, of them EUR 72.5 mln to be provided by banks.