Since July 2022, it has been virtually impossible to import wood products from Russia or Belarus into the EU in compliance with the EUTR. According to the GD Holz, however, it cannot be ruled out “that Kazakh or Baltic birch or Siberian larch is used in Chinese products which are imported into the EU”. The German Timber Trade Association suspects that in such cases, Russian wood has been declared incorrectly, and thus urges caution.
Various European media outlets and NGOs dedicated to environmental protection have done research on violations of the sanctions against Russia. The Austrian news magazine “Profil” and the Danish financial newspaper “Børsen” report on a man from Belarus who offered Baltic plywood from Russia to a Danish trading company. The man from Belarus stated that he worked for a company which is associated with the Kaindl family. A spokesperson for the chipboard giant Kronospan denies this, according to profil.at, emphasizing that Kronospan has “zero tolerance for bribery and corruption” and fully adheres to all restrictive measures imposed against Russia and Belarus. Furthermore, that person “was never an employee of Kronospan”.
The EU Commission has found that existing import duties on Russian birch plywood are being circumvented by imports to the EU via Kazakhstan and Turkey (Russia circumvents duties on plywood imports). The environmental NGO Earthsight has reported 31 importers to several EUTR authorities, accusing them of importing birch plywood, presumably of Russian origin, to the EU via Kazakhstan. According to a press release by the GD Holz, the FSC is currently examining plywood imports from China and Eastern Europe.
The Russian freighter “Atlantic Navigator II”, which arrived in the port of Rostock at the beginning of March, has left again in the last few days. The freighter from St. Petersburg was carrying 251 containers of birch plywood in addition to highly enriched uranium and was detained by German customs authorities. Originally, the cargo ship’s destination was the port of Baltimore on the US east coast. According to reports by ostsee-zeitung.de, the birch plywood was not unloaded and is still on board. In the US, there are import tariffs on Russian plywood, but no ban on imports.
In the first quarter, Russia exported 4.3 million m³ of lumber to its main foreign markets China, Uzbekistan, Turkey and Iran. Turkey has, in fact, become the third most important buyer of Russian lumber (Turkey the number three buyer of Russian lumber).
