Russia-China Timber Trade_cover.jpg

AcknowledgementsThe authors are grateful to the following experts who contributed to this publication: A. Lankin, N. Burdin,E. Kulikova, A. Voropaev, V. Dmitriev, Yu. Darman, D. Smirnov, E. Kopylova, N. Shmatkov and, of course, toE. Voronkova and L. Melnik, the editors of Russian edition of publication.We are grateful to Professors Shi Kunshan, Li Fengming and Liu Jie of the Chinese Forest Academy and HanZheng, Dong Ke, and Wang Xiangyi of WWF-China.We are sincerely grateful to Rodney Taylor, the Head of Sustainable Markets Development Department (WWFInternational) and Josh Newell (University of Washington).List of abbreviations and Russian termsAbbreviationsCEPI Confederation of European Paper IndustriesCIF Cost, Insurance, FreightCu. m cubic meterDV Dalniy VostokFLEG Forest Law Enforcement and GovernanceFMU Forest Management Unit (leskhoz)FSC Forest Stewardship CouncilG-8 Group of EightGFTN Global Forest and Trade NetworkGOST Gosudarstvennyy Standart (state standard)Russian TermsKray/oblast administrative regionleshkhoz forest management unitExecutive SummaryHaHCVFkWRFRFERMBSq. kmSq. mUSWWFhectareHigh Conservation Value ForestkilowattRussian FederationRussian Far EastRenminbisquare kilometersquare meterUnited StatesWorld Wide Fund for NatureFueled by a domestic logging ban in 1998 and by rising domestic consumption and exports of manufacturedproducts to other countries in the world, China has rapidly emerged as the world’s largest importer of woodproducts, with Russia by far its most important supplier. A growing chorus of research institutes and nongovernmentalorganizations has correlated this skyrocketing import with sharp rises in illegal logging (andassociated corruption, tax and customs violations, etc) in Russia, as opportunistic, shadowy companies rush tomeet this demand. The demand will continue to increase. WWF, the global conservation organization estimatesthat China will need to import 125 million cu. m of timber by 2010, up from 50 million cu. m. in 2004.Using statistical data from Russian government agencies and academic institutions, and field data and researchby a great number of organizations, this report provides a comprehensive overview of the Russian-Chinese timber trade and illegal logging in Siberia and the Russian Far East (RFE). The report is part of a seriesof analyses and case studies prepared by WWF-Russia devoted to these issues. The report is based on datacollected from 2002 to 2004. The text was finalized at the end of 2006, before the new Forest Code wasenacted.The report is divided into five sections so readers may quickly find topics of interest. Section I briefly overviewstimber resources and forestry in Siberia and the RFE. Although the massive size of Russian forests is oftenhighlighted in publications, it is less well-known that economically viable forests, in Eastern Siberia and theRFE, are confined to the southern stretches along the Chinese border and near the Sea of Japan coastline.This section also draws attention to the fact that even though the timber industry has rebounded (largely due todemand in China), wood processing capacity remains far below that found in even the early Soviet period.Section II provides an overview of the Russian-Chinese trade, highlighting how China has depleted the commercialwood volumes in its own forests and introduced the Natural Forest Protection Programme, which aimedto restrict the domestic timber harvest, and has become an important factor leading to the sharp rise in imports.It documents how Russia grew from China’s third largest supplier of roundwood (logs) in the mid-1990’s toproviding almost 64% of China’s total roundwood imports in 2004. China’s sawnwood imports from Russia are3