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Over 7 million cu.m of wood products and less than 1 million cu.m of logs exported
Export of unprocessed wood from Romania is under one million cu.m/year and that of wood products - over 7 million cu.m, the president of the Foresters Association of Romania (ASFOR), Nicolae Tucunel told Mediafax.
He showed in a press release that about 19 million cu.m. of wood is felled in Romania, of which 12 million cu.m is industrially processed. The rest of 7 million cu,m is for heating and other use.
0.8 million cu.m of the quantity for industry is exported as logs annually, while the difference is processed (panel, PAL, MDF).
About 30% of wood is lost during technological process and of the 9 million cu.m left the furniture industry takes over only 1.6 million cu.m. The rest of 7.4 million cu.m of products is exported, Tucunel explained. Those products cannot be sold in Romania.
He also showed that products made of Romanian wood are sold in foreign markets at prices 12 times higher than the average price of wood. While wood is sold at an average price of 123 lei/cu.m., the average price of products sold abroad is 1,600 lei/cu.m and there are products that sell ar 2,000 lei/cu.m.
Romania s traditional foreign markets are in the Middle East, Far East, Northern Africa and Europe, but in the last 2-3 years Romania has been selling more to the United Arab Emirates, Japan and China and less in other Arab countries and Europe.
Romania also imports wood but in small quantities - 1 million cu.m in 2014 from Ukraine, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia.
According to Tucunel, imports are made to cover domestic needs, because the Romanian wood industry is used to buy cheaper and producers prefer to sell abroad.
Even though Romania also imports wood, it has always been a net exporter. At present, wood industry in Romania is at its highest historical level, both for processing wood and for profitability and prices obtained in traditional markets, the ASFOR press release shows.
Tuncunel showed that there had been exports of over 50 billion euros in 2014, to which the wood industry contributed with 2 billion euros when the business figure of wood industry in Romania is about 4.5 billion euros.
Even the temporary interruption of the Romanian producers commercial relations with foreign partners would generate a general gridlock, determining a significant drop of wood prices, with great losses for forest owners and the bankruptcy of many companies. Forbidding exports could be a measure against the whole field, the ASFOR president added.