Aleksandr Lukashenko reminded Aleksandr Kulik that a year has already passed since his appointment as head of the department. Unfortunately, the president pointed out, before there were many questions to the leaders related to the forest issue. That is why the Head of State decided on Kulik’s candidacy “as an absolutely down-to-earth person, who knows the forest well and treats it as a professional who loves nature.”
Addressing the Minister, the Belarusian leader asked about the changes that have occurred in recent times. Especially in terms of exports and market diversification.
In addition, by appointing an industry leader, the task was also to reduce the cost of wood so that people actively build houses in rural areas. “What is the system here? Rather it is a question for the government, but also for you, even as a member of the government,” Lukashenko asked.
He also asked about the reforestation work: “How is the work with planting material? What are the problems here? Several years ago we agreed on the allocation of additional land for the cultivation of planting material. Has this been implemented? “
As Alexander Kulik reported, under the sanctions the ministry has restructured its work. If before, 60,000 cubic meters of sawn wood were exported monthly, now the supply has increased and has reached 77,000 cubic meters. “This is an all-time high for the supply of wood for export,” the minister said.
As you know, before the sanctions the main market for Belarusian lumber was the EU countries, and now the main consumers are China (52 percent), Azerbaijan (24 percent) and Russia (6 percent).
In a word, the niche is covered and, most importantly, “we have increased both in volume and in millions of dollars,” the minister noted. “In seven months we have delivered products worth 90.4 million dollars,” he said.
