Forest exports from Russia by rail collapsed by almost 37 percent. This happened due to the closure of border crossings in China for non-container goods and preparation for the ban on the removal of raw wood, writes Kommersant.
For 19 days of December, the loading of the forest for exports on the railway decreased by 36.8 percent (up to 0.6 tons), the total loading of wood fell by 13.5 percent (only 1.8 million tons). Far Eastern round forest exporters are most affected.
China closed the railway border crossings of Grodekovo-Suifenhe and Zabaikalsk-Manchuria because of the deterioration of the situation with Coronavirus. In the Russian-Chinese border, record traffic jams from heavy trucks.
In September last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the situation with the timber industry in the Far East for the “purely archaic and consumer approach”. He described it with the words “I do not climb into any gate and instructed from January 1, 2022 to prohibit the removal of unprocessed or treated for the type of timber coniferous and valuable hardwood.