ST. PETERSBURG, June 19. /TASS/. China and Uzbekistan account for almost three quarters of Russian timber exports, with China’s share rising faster, Head of the Federal Agency for Forestry Ivan Sovetnikov told TASS at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"In Q1 2023, exports amounted to 4.2 mln cubic meters of timber. China and Uzbekistan accounted for over 74% of all timber exports in the first three months of this year. Last year, their share totaled 56%. Russia’s timber supplies to China grew most of all, by 98,000 cubic meters, or 3.5%, to 2.9 mln cubic meters. Consequently, China’s share in the volume of Russian timber deliveries rose from 49% to 64%," he said.

Russia’s second-largest purchaser of Russian timber, Uzbekistan, boosted purchases by 57,000 cubic meters, or 13%, to 479,000 cubic meters, with its share rising to 11%. Moreover, among the key contractors in the first quarter of 2023 compared with the same period last year, purchases were notably boosted by China, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkey, the UAE, and Kyrgyzstan.

That said, the export of round timber has already been prohibited for a year and a half for developing high-level processing, Sovetnikov noted. Moreover, the scheme whereby a log is processed after one mark is removed from it has also been abandoned.

"This means that the geography is expanding. But of course, it is too early to say that we have fully coped with the situation. It is necessary to proceed with the work on expanding transport corridors to the Far East, as well as to the South running to Iran and Middle Eastern countries, to increase railway and maritime corridors. We are working on it jointly with Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Ministry of Industry and Trade; it is necessary to help business amid these really difficult conditions," he said.

Earlier, reports said that logging in Russia had fallen by 13.5% in 2022 compared with 2021 as a result of sanctions, though the situation is expected to improve this year.