First export deal for supply of sawn timber to China signed on St. Petersburg Exchange
MOSCOW. Aug 18 (Interfax) - The first deal to export sawn timber to China has been signed on the St. Petersburg Exchange, involving the delivery of 3,800 cubic meters of softwood lumber to China's Taicang station on a container train in the Russian Railways Commodity Delivery Operator (RZD CDO) system, the exchange press service reported.
The supplier is Rusforest Magistralny, part of the Lesresurs group, from the Siberian Federal District. Three Chinese companies took part in the trading, one of which was selected as the buyer on a competitive basis.
The exchange press service said that the RZD CDO system had previously only been used for internal goods deliveries and would now also be used for timber exports as well as petroleum product exports.
"On the timber market, we are moving onto the next stage of our development - export trade. This pilot project is the first time the RZD CDO system is being used for international timber deliveries. We are on the way to establishing and developing exchange trade on an international level. The timber export project is a priority for us and we will use the experience gained to expand the product line in future," Sergei Kostromin, manager of the timber market development department at the St. Petersburg Exchange, is quoted as saying in the message.
In 2023, the exchange began experimenting with exchange exports of timber products to countries from the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), primarily Kazakhstan. In 2024, it had the idea of launching a full exchange export project involving shipments of timber products to Asia using the RZD CDO system, managing director of the exchange Alexei Ryzhikov told Interfax in an interview.
Ryzhikov told journalists in July that many Russian producers had expressed interest in the pilot deal to export sawn timber via the CDO, which the exchange was preparing to mediate. "There is effectively a queue of them wanting to take part once the project reaches an industrial scale," he said. The exchange expected the first deal to take place by the end of July.
Overall, 2.037 million cubic meters of timber to a total value of 3.947 billion rubles had been traded on the St. Petersburg Exchange in the first half of 2025 and 427 timber supply contracts signed. Vendors from 42 Russian regions took part in organized trading sessions for timber on the exchange, including over 180 state (municipal) subordinate institutions, 20 correctional institutions, and commercial enterprises and other state (municipal) enterprises in the timber industry.
In the second quarter of 2025, timber was purchased on the St. Petersburg Exchange by traders from 58 Russian regions, as well as Kazakhstan. Some 5,882 cubic meters were purchased by traders from outside of Russia, a 44% increase year-on-year, according to data cited by Ryzhikov in July.
