Russia's Segezha Group forestry holding expects timber harvesting to drop 12.5% in 2025

ST. PETERSBURG. Nov 26 (Interfax) - The volume of timber harvesting in Russia is projected to be around 170 million cubic meters in 2025, Nikolai Ivanov, vice president and member of the management board at Segezha Group , said at the plenary session of the International PulpFor exhibition.

"The expected drop in harvesting to 170 million cubic meters in 2025, compared to a maximum of 350 million during the Soviet era and 238 million in 2018 in the Russian Federation, is still a fairly conservative forecast," the company's press service quoted Ivanov as saying.

Ivanov's forecast is in line with a decline of 12.5% year-on-year in timber harvesting from 194.3 million cubic meters harvested last year.

Ivanov has urged regulators at least not to worsen the existing business conditions within the industry development strategy under development until 2035 given the expected reduction in the raw material base. Businesses are concerned about legislative initiatives related to increasing timber fees 40%-50% in 2026, as well as the proposal to terminate lease agreements with those who harvest less than 70% of the calculated allowable cut. The average utilization rate across Russia is currently around 16% according to the Federal Forestry Agency, he said.

The new industry strategy should include objectives to increase the fleet of logging equipment, either of Russian production or produced in cooperation with machine builders from friendly countries, Segezha said.

"It is also necessary to assess alternatives to traditional logging. For example, plantation forestry, taking into account the objective Russian climatic and soil realities," Segezha noted.

"Another promising niche is integrated projects in the field of bio-refining. Global industry leaders are already actively implementing similar technologies in the production chains. The relevance is increasing owing to the global reduction in the raw material base of the forestry industry. Bio-refining involves the comprehensive processing of wood with the profiling of all processing products (lignin, sugars, tannins) as target products, not by-products. Moreover, the original wood is used almost completely at 90%-95%. Meantime, an excess of green energy is achieved along with energy independence. The textile and paint and varnish industries are among the potential consumers of bio-refining products, along with the fashion industry and pharmacology," Ivanov said, noting that "the principles of bio-refining have already formed the basis of the revised concepts of Segezha Group's biotechnological complexes planned for Karelia and Siberia."