What the yield utilization rate brings is the decline of the total timber output. From January to October this year, Russia's total timber output reached 24.7 million cubic meters, a year-on-year decrease of 8.5%; Among them, the year-on-year decline of a single month in October was significant, reaching 18.3%.

In fact, this is the fourth year that Russia's timber production has declined since 2019. However, the increase in average export price has enabled the co exporters of timber to maintain their income at a relatively balanced level.

The output of plywood also decreased. The total output of plywood in the first 10 months was 2.785 million cubic meters, a year-on-year decrease of 26.7%; In October alone, output shrank by 37%. The output of fiberboard and chipboard fell simultaneously, falling 7.5% to 564 million cubic meters and 9.9% to 8.6 million cubic meters respectively.

From the perspective of domestic railway transport volume in the third quarter only, due to insufficient demand in the Russian domestic market and export restrictions, the shipment volume of Russian wood and wood products was 445000, a small drop of 1.7%.

In addition to export restrictions, the transportation problems existing in the superposition of reduced market demand, it is obvious that Russian timber cannot be sold at a better price. To this end, Russian timber exporters hope to obtain more subsidies in production, transportation and other aspects to maintain the minimum production profits.

Export of Russian timber to China
According to Chinese customs data, from the data of the first three quarters of this year, the Russian Federation's timber and its products exports to China reached 4.4 billion US dollars, 1.2% higher than the level of the same period last year.

In terms of sawn timber, the quantity of sawn timber imported by China from Russia decreased by 9% to 9.86 million cubic meters, with a value of 2.3 billion US dollars, an increase of 1%.

In terms of hardwood sawn timber, the export volume in the first three months of this year increased from 858000 cubic meters to 926000 cubic meters, up 8% year on year.

In terms of plywood, since May this year, the number of plywood exported from Russia to China has increased slightly every month, and reached the peak level of total export in July.

In the first three quarters of this year, the number of plywood exported from Russia to China reached 820000 cubic meters, a year-on-year increase of 1.5 times. This growth is mainly related to the shrinking supply of plywood to European and American markets.

In terms of specific timber export, in the first three quarters, birch, pine and spruce remained at the top of the total export volume.

Among them, although the export volume of pine fell by 4.2% to 3.93 million cubic meters, it is still the most exported product from Russia to China. The export share of birch logs increased from 25% to 73%; The export volume of spruce fell 2.5% year on year to 3.84 million cubic meters, falling to the second place in the total supply of wood categories.

The quantity of sawn timber exported from Russia to China is reduced

Despite the close timber trade relationship between Russia and China, the sluggish demand for timber in the Chinese market failed to drive the increase of Russian timber exports. After the loss of "certification", Russian timber also lost a lot of important market shares.

The restriction on the export of Russian timber has developed to this day, and some countries that originally imported a large amount of Russian timber are not feeling well.

Due to the demand for wood, many countries that had previously restricted Russian wood from entering their own countries did not make any further moves to circumvent the ban on re export by Russian timber traders through processing in China. Then, whether Russia's timber export can take this as a new export "shortcut" in the future remains to be verified.