Roundwood transportations will be normalized at Finnish-Russian borders

The situation caused by the new requirement to sort imported wood according to diameter at the Finnish-Russian borders has been solved. Russian Customs authorities specified directions of the export customs decree last week. According to the latest Russian directions, imported wood does not need to be sorted at borders. Implementation of the directions takes some time, and the situation at the border stations is expected to be normalized gradually. In March, the Russian government issued a decree that increased export duties on softwood at the end of May. At the same time a new requirement according to which imported wood must be classified according to diameter came into force. The requirement caused confusion at the border stations. Wood exporters have not been able to sort pulpwood, and wood imports have been difficult over last weeks. "According to the latest directions of the Russian Customs administration imported wood does not need to be classified according to diameter. Wood imports to Finland are expected to be normalized gradually," says Ms Anneli Kotonen, Department Manager of Industrial Policy at the Finnish Forest Industries Federation. Imported wood accounts for well over 20 per cent of the wood used by the Finnish forest industries, and 80 per cent of imported wood comes from Russia. For more information, please contact: Anneli Kotonen, Department Manager, Finnish Forest Industries Federation, Industrial Policy, tel. +358 9 132 6642, +358 40 5274 857, firstname.lastname@forestindustries.fi