Restrictions for Russian export

15 apr 2011

Latvijas Finieris stopped roundwood import from Russia due to the imposed import duty, difficulties in supply, and demands for chain of custody.

Latvijas Finieris is focusing on development, manufacture and sales of birch plywood and has business partners in more than 50 countries. In 2010, the mills in Latvia and Lithuania consumed 560 000 cubic metre of birch wood for the production of 204 000 cubic metre of plywood.

Imposed import duty, difficulties in supply, and demands for chain of custody

Latvijas Finieris birch plywood mills stopped round wood import from Russia in the middle of 2008 due to imposed import duty, difficulties in supply, and demands for chain of custody. The company is laying down obligations on the operators who place timber and timber products on the market by requiring Chain of custody in accordance with the requirements of FSC, PECF or the regulation (EU) no.995/2010.

Changes will come into force in the summer of 2012

Many aspects concerning the import duty from Russia are being discussed at ES level and Latvia takes part in the discussion process. Most probably, changes will come into force in the summer of 2012 or even later. The intention of the company is to use EU wood resources only and, right now, the wood raw material supply is concentrated on resources from the Baltic region. Latvijas Finieris strongly believes that the Latvian State Forests, being an important veneer log supplier, will renew the FSC certificate in the first half of 2011. Some small trial orders of veneer birch logs have also been imported from Sweden.

Indulis Kovisārs, Head of Forest Sector, Latvijas Finieris

Photo: Indulis Kovisārs