38 | Panel Perspectives: EPF plywood webinar
CRACKING DOWN ON ILLEGAL PLYWOOD
The question of illegal Russian birch plywood still entering the EU market has been a
prominent one in the European forest products industry. The European Panel Federation recently held a webinar to educate the industry on the topic
T
he issue of birch plywood from Russia and Belarus entering the EU market through third countries has been a thorny one since sanctions were placed on the product after the Ukraine conflict started in early 2022. To educate the market about the latest situation, the European Panel Federation (EPF) and Polish Association of Wood Based Panel Producers, recently convened a panel of experts in an online webinar streamed from Warsaw. “We believe we have a serious issue with this trading [of sanctioned plywood from Russia and Belarus] and need a serious response from all stakeholders and appropriate action from all stakeholders in the process,” said the organisers. “Therefore, we decided to bring the issue
closer to the sector. Any regulation is only as good as its enforcement. Without obeying our laws, we could not live in a modern society.”
Martins Lacis, executive board member at Latvijas Finieris and chairman of the plywood product group within the EPF, kicked off the event by covering the background. Mr Lacis said a lot of investment had occurred in Russian in birch plywood
production over the past decade, ending up in overcapacity and resulting in products flooding into the EU. Several European producers shut down their mills during this period and investments were put on hold. The European Commission enacted anti- dumping duties on the products in question. Of course, the outbreak of war in Ukraine meant further sanctions were imposed on Russia and Belarus in 2022, effectively banning new imports from the countries . This had the effect of triggering new import trade flows of birch plywood. Mr Lacis reported that some exporters sending birch ply products into the EU were claiming the raw materials for the products originated within the EU – such as in the Baltics – but the statistics didn’t add up. This included from countries producing birch plywood but on limited amounts due to their capacity and raw materials (Kazakhstan, Moldova). It also included from countries producing plywood but without sufficient birch log resources locally (Turkey, Georgia, China, Vietnam, Morocco, Ghana and others) and from countries without any plywood production (Uzbekistan, Egypt, Armenia). “At the same time, birch plywood exports to some above-mentioned countries from
Russia sky-rocketed,” Mr Lacis added. In 2023, some 337,000m3
Kazakhstan (120,000m3
), US (187,000m3 ).
of Russian
plywood (mainly birch ply) was exported to Egypt, followed by China (244,000m3 Turkey (196,000m3
) and ) and “The current share of illicit plywood in the
EU is about 16%, it’s going down but it’s still a lot and is a concern to the market.” This, he says, is hurting the industry and misleading customers.
At the same time there is substantial substitution of materials using other plywood products to avoid the missing volume from Russia.
2024 CHALLENGES
Mr Lacis said the questioned imports from Kazakhstan and Turkey were reducing, but imports from other countries were increasing. The reduction from the two aforementioned countries was mainly due to the European circumvention and anti- dumping duties imposed.
China was also flagged up, with the
average density of its plywood increasing from 556kg/m3
in 2022 to 669kg/m3 in 2024
– giving an indication that the product was becoming more similar to the traditional
Above: Birch plywood from Russia and Belarus is the target of considerable EU and UK enforcement activity WBPI | August/September 2024 |
www.wbpionline.com
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