China Accounts For 42% Of Russian Timber Export - Russian Deputy Prime Minister

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st October, 2020) About 42 percent of the Russian timber export goes to China, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko said on Wednesday, while addressing the Federation Council.

The deputy prime minister briefed the upper house of the Russian parliament on the measures the government has taken in the sphere of forest management. Abramchenko said that in 2019 the Russian export of timber amounted to $8 billion, that is around 50 million cubic meters or 41.2 million tons.

"Our major partners: China account for 42 percent, Finland 6.

5 percent, Japan 5.8 percent and Uzbekistan 5.4 percent," Abramchenko said.

According to the International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO, in 2019 Russia was the 4th largest world exporter of timber ($8.6 billion), with China importing 39.4 percent of Russian timber.

The Russian share in global timber export may decrease, when President Vladimir Putin's October directive, which places a total ban on the export of unprocessed timber until 2022, comes into force. This decision was made to put an end to illicit smuggling of unprocessed timber, which has reached high proportion.