We all remember that in compliance with the instructions of the head of state, a ban on the export of valuable roundwood was introduced from the beginning of 2022. It was a long-term decision aimed at developing the Russian economy and raising the technological level of the forest industry. It became an administrative incentive for entrepreneurs to organize wood processing and produce a wider and more progressive range of wood products. This decision was also positively received by the general population: a barrier was placed in the form of exporting valuable raw materials abroad. To some extent, the positive effects appeared already in the first year of the ban.
The structure of forest management entities began to change. Companies have invested in recycling. True, out of 300 industrial enterprises in the Khabarovsk Territory, only 100 are engaged in wood processing, while 80 enterprises make the simplest wood, and the launch of such production does not require large investments. Four companies produce more complex products: sheets, fuel pellets. Such production can be started by mastering large investments.
There are few real processors and they need to be compatible
However, after the sanctions were imposed, companies that invested hundreds of millions of dollars in sophisticated equipment faced a production crisis. The bad thing is that it was the big investors who were affected by the sanctions: the closed Japanese market, to which production was oriented, caused millions in losses. The South Korean market is unpredictable and subject to sanctions.
At the same time, our products are not competitive in western regions due to high transportation costs. In addition, the Okrug’s wood-processing enterprises are limited in the domestic market: only 5.5 percent of Russia’s population lives in more than 40 percent of the country’s economic space.
As a result, the timber industry is experiencing a decline in production and a decline in the level of timber extraction.
In this situation, companies need help. The circle of real processors is small, they have completed the task of establishing high-tech production. But if they are not supported, then defaults will become signs of bankruptcy, and this is already a threat of loss of assets created by large investments, this is a threat to the investment attractiveness of the industry in the region. The decision proposed by the deputies lies on the surface: accumulated stocks of raw raw materials can be allowed for export sales under a temporary moratorium on the export ban on round timber: Ayan fir, white fir and larch from Dahurian. In addition, it is necessary to suspend the collection of the export customs duty (10 percent) for sawn timber with a moisture content greater than 22 percent. The tax forces companies to resort to forced drying, which, in fact, the foreign consumer does not need, and bear the costs of it. In the meantime, they could sell their stocks of raw materials on the Chinese market, because the Chinese consumer does not need to dry the wood.
These measures would make it possible to maintain liquid working capital and preserve established production, and this would not require direct financial assistance from the budget.
As a specialist in anti-crisis management, I am convinced of the adequacy of the solution we proposed.
