Russian log and lumber exports increased substantially in 1Q/11 thanks to higher wood demand in China, Finland and Japan

The world’s largest log exporter, Russia, increased the shipments of logs in the 1Q/11 after having declined for four years, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly. Russian exports of softwood lumber have also gone up substantially, especially to China, Uzbekistan, Japan and Egypt.Seattle, USA. Russia has for many years been, by far, the largest exporter of logs in the world. When the country announced a log export tax of 25 percent in 2007 and the intention to increase this tax to 80 percent in 2009, many forest companies in Asia and Europe decided to reduce their reliance on Russian logs. As