Investments in the forest industry in Eastern Russia, driven by forest products demand in China, have resulted in higher timber harvests in the past few years, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly.
Timber harvests in Russia were close to 190 million m3 in 2017, as estimated by WRI based on forest industry production, log usage and net exports of logs. The derived timber harvest was up approximately 6.2% from 2016 primarily due to higher log consumption by the softwood sawmilling sector and the pellet industry. Domestic log demand in Russia has been on a steady upward trajectory over the past decade, while the exportation of logs has declined. The largest log-consuming sectors in 2017 were softwood sawmills (60% of domestic log usage) and pulp (17%).
The provinces of Siberia and Russia Far East are the only regions in Russia where timber harvests have gone up during the past five years, according to the government agency Rosstat. This has been driven by substantial investments in forest industry production in the region, predominantly in the sawmilling sector. From 2013 to 2017, harvest volumes in Eastern Russia were up 30%, while they remained practically unchanged in Northwestern Russia and fell in the Central provinces of the country.