According to the Ministry of Economic Development, fiberboard production output decreased by 26.1%, of chipboards – by 20.7%, plywood – by 18.7%, sawn timber 12.2%, door and window units – by 33.4 and 46.1% respectively.

Decreased production output of pulp and paper products is explained by reduced manufacture of market pulp – by 11.9%, cardboard – by 6.6% and paper – by 2.0%.

Timber industrial complex is highly export-oriented (over 30% of manufactured products are exported), which makes the branch significantly dependent on foreign economic conditions. Changes in the foreign markets (incl. market saturation, decreased demand and prices on processed wood products) contributed to significant reduction of production output.

Decreased demand for timber products resulted in slowdown in house construction, repair works and building reconstruction, furniture production, personal incomes, as well as decreased demand from main consumers.

In order to modernize commercial manufacture, reduce export of raw materials and develop high quality competitive timber products the Government introduced the mechanism of priority investment projects. Currently there are 84 approved investment projects with total investment volume amounting to 425.1 bln   RUR (€ 10.1 bln) – expected volume of processed raw materials reaching 67.6 mln cubic meters.

Manufacture of timber industry products in Russia in 2009

Business Support Bureau "Runa"  www.runa.info 

For more information about Russian timber industry, please see MOST  (Market Overview. Statistics. Trends) - regularly updated digest of the situation in the Russian timber industry! New edition in December 2009!