Not all businessmen and experts liked the proposal of President Vladimir Putin to completely ban the export of coniferous round timber from 2022. In large corporations faced with a shortage of raw materials, the initiative is considered useful. Refinery companies are confident that the new measure will lead to their end. The government promised to support the industry. But experts doubt that a sharp halt in exports will benefit the market, which in any case will not have time to rebuild in a year.
The ban should initiate the decriminalization of the forestry complex. Such a measure has been discussed for years. Last year, the speaker of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko, suggested stopping the export of round timber, but temporarily, while the new Forest Code is being developed.
The largest timber company Segezha Group positively assesses such a ban. Top manager Nikolai Ivanov explained to Kommersant that support for timber processing is necessary, and the shortage of raw materials, except for deciduous pulpwood, is obvious. Segezha sees in the new law an opportunity to expand the acquisition of timber on the side.
The Ilim group noted that the steps to put things in order in the forestry industry look “certainly right”. But they said that the export ban should be accompanied by the development of a set of measures to stimulate the development of domestic processing.
But Far Eastern companies are already complaining about negative business margins due to restrictive export duties on unprocessed timber.