Truth and fiction: Russia exports timber to China
In recent months, various sensational reports on Russian social networking sites about Chinese people seemingly cutting timber in Siberia and the Far East, buying forest land and even re-exporting Russian timber to other countries have emerged in an endless stream. So, is this information true or invented? At the invitation of the Satellite News Agency, Vasily Kashin, a famous expert on Chinese issues in the Far East Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, explored this.
From the widely spread "myth", we can draw the view that China madly buys Russian forests and does everything in its power to expand the possibility of entering the forest; without any scruples, the robbers plunder Russian resources to earn money. It seems that Russian officials not only do not hinder this deforestation, but are still conniving. The purpose is to create a good atmosphere for Sino-Russian relations, and there are also corruptions.
The data listed in these reports are not supported by any facts and are easily denied by statistics. In 2017, China accounted for only 39% of Russian timber exports. China is the world's most imported country and consumer of wood. It is important to know that China has been a major producer of wood raw material consumer products to date.
According to Chinese statistics, in 2017, China imported unprocessed timber and sawn timber, and Russia only accounted for 30.8%. Russia's main competitors are New Zealand, Canada and the United States, which account for 13.8%, 9.8%, and 9.8% of the Chinese market, respectively. Moreover, in 2017, New Zealand logs have surpassed Russia's exports to China, controlling the market rate of 25.93% of such goods in China, and Russia only 20.33%. In recent months, various sensational reports on Russian social networking sites about Chinese people seemingly cutting timber in Siberia and the Far East, buying forest land and even re-exporting Russian timber to other countries have emerged in an endless stream. So, is this information true or invented? At the invitation of the Satellite News Agency, Vasily Kashin, a famous expert on Chinese issues in the Far East Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, explored this.
It can be seen that the Chinese wood and wood products market is the competition target of some fairly developed companies. China's timber imports have been multiplied to a large extent, and if there is a place in the Chinese market, there must be some struggle.
In addition to China, Finland and Japan, Russian timber buyers include EU countries (such as Germany and Sweden), Middle East countries without forests (such as Egypt), the United States and some Asian countries. The Chinese did not “buy†and “control†the Russian forest industry. China has investments in some types of forest companies, but Japan, Finland and other countries also have investments.
In Russia, few domestic companies are engaged in timber harvesting. Some of these companies attract investment from China, Japan, Europe and the United States, but employ Russian employees and managers.
At the national level, for Russia, when discussing timber trade, China cannot even be seen as a problem partner. In the 2000s, the Russian government tried to restrict the export of logs through export tariffs, and China accepted the new rules of the game fairly calmly. On the contrary, the EU has taken extremely severe pressure on Moscow and achieved its own goals. In the end, Russia canceled the decision without being threatened to join the WTO.
It is worth mentioning that the current EU, against Ukraine is also using severe economic intimidation, threats to stop providing assistance and loans, trying to get Ukraine to lift timber export restrictions as soon as possible. Because the EU understands that Ukraine has few forest resources, the Ukrainian government cannot stop the deforestation of forest resources under the current circumstances.
The rumors about the "Chinese deforestation" have become more and more intense, and should be largely unrelated to the Chinese business community, but related to the overall situation in the field. Perhaps, it is also related to the new round of reform expectations. The management of this area is weak, the lack of adequate monitoring of forest resources, and the slow progress in increasing wood processing, which leads to the inefficient use and abuse of Russian forests. In this regard, not long ago, Sergei Ivanov, the plenipotentiary of the Russian President’s Ecology, Conservation of Nature and Transport, also pointed out that it is necessary to carry out new reforms in this area.
Editor in charge: Cao
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