Russia’s lumber exports hit new record in Nov ‘15

MOSCOW (Scrap Monster): The Russian lumber exports touched new record during the month of November last year. The latest statistics released by Woodstat suggests sharp rise in lumber exports by Russia during the month.

The Russian lumber exports surged higher by 17% during the month, when compared with the same month a year before. The cumulative lumber exports during the initial eleven months of the previous year were up by 6% when compared with 2014. The key reasons cited for the sharp jump in exports are the declining local currency and falling domestic demand.

The Russian mills continued to face stiff competition from Swedish mills in terms of market share. Swedish mills have now turned out to be the main exporter of pine lumber to Egyptian market. The export volume to Egypt is almost double the volume of lumber exports to the UK. It must be noted that export volume to the UK was several times larger than to Egypt almost a decade ago.

Russian lumber export trade to other key markets such as China, South Korea and Iran too flourished during this period. On the other hand, Russian lumber exports to former Soviet Republic countries have declined sharply.