Woodworking industry

Timber Industry Complex of Russia

Main article: Timber industry of Russia

Information Technology in the Forest Industry

Main article: Digitalization of the forest industry

2024: Reduction of Russia's woodworking industry to RUB 1.03 trillion

By the end of 2024, the production of woodworking products in Russia decreased to 1.03 trillion rubles from 1.12 trillion rubles a year earlier. Such data are given in the materials of Rosstat, published in February 2025.

According to the statistics presented, in 2024, Russia as a whole observed stable dynamics in the field of wood processing and the production of wooden products. According to Rosstat, the total production of timber, longitudinally sawed or split, in 2024 amounted to 28,204 thousand cubic meters, which is 0.6% more than in 2023. Including softwood lumber reached 25,816 thousand cubic meters (+ 1.4%), while hardwood lumber decreased to 2,091 thousand cubic meters (-10.7%).

𝓲

Фото: Freepik

Production of fuel briquettes from woodworking waste increased by 19%, amounting to 193 thousand tons. Raw, painted, etched or treated with preservatives timber was produced in the amount of 122 thousand cubic meters, which is 4.7% less than in 2023.

Plywood in 2024 produced 3,425 thousand cubic meters, which corresponds to 100.5% to the level of 2023. Significant growth was noted in the production of particle and similar boards - 13,880 thousand cond. sq. m (+ 20.9%), as well as fiber boards - 712 thousand sq. m (+ 10.1%).

The board floor assembly was produced in the amount of 10.4 million square meters, which is 16.4% less than a year earlier. In the segment of wooden windows and boxes, production amounted to 284 thousand square meters (-0.7%). The production of doors and wooden thresholds amounted to 22.3 million square meters (+ 0.3%).

The volume of production of wooden factory houses (standard) in 2024 amounted to 243 thousand square meters of total area, which is 3% more compared to 2023, calculated in Rosstat.

2019: Wood price growth forecast by 2.5% per year to 2030

The demand for wood is closely related to the level of business activity in the construction industry. At the same time, according to experts at the beginning of 2019, in the short term, business in the construction sector will be negatively affected by a cyclical slowdown in global GDP growth and an increase in the cost of wood raw materials (+ 4.2% in 2018 after a decrease of 10.5% from 2015 to 2017). In the long term, analysts give a positive outlook, as demand for real estate in emerging markets is expected to grow.

The segment of wood production for heating and electricity generation is strongly influenced by fluctuations in hydrocarbon prices, and with the increase in the use of wood for energy production, this impact is only increasing. In the latest figures available at the time of writing, the price of untreated timber rose 3.3% in 2018. Economists at the World Bank predict that from 2019 to 2030, prices for wood raw materials will increase by an average of 2.5% per year.

To Europe The consumption of wood products will be negatively affected by the general cooling of economic activity in the region Coface (experts predict a slowdown in GDP growth from 2.1% in 2018 to 1.7% in 2019) and a decrease in real estate demand. The demand for heating wood, on the contrary, will grow, analysts say, since there is a clear trend towards an increase in the popularity of renewable energy sources in the region.

In China, demand for real estate is expected to decrease, and with it the fall in wood consumption by developers. The reason is the decline in the growth rate of the Chinese economy and the measures that Beijing is taking to prevent a bubble in the real estate market.

In Japan, demand for wood will increase due to the active construction of infrastructure for the 2020 Olympic Games, which will be held in Tokyo.

2018: Developing countries scale up industry activities

In recent years, the sector has been planning a trend towards a redistribution of market shares - manufacturers from developing countries are gradually expanding their activities and taking customers from business from the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) member states.

According to the UN Committee on Forests and Forestry, in 2018, the volume of lumber consumption in UNECE countries increased by 1.9%, primarily due to an increase in demand for wood fuel pellets. In 2019, analysts of the committee predict, growth will slow down and will be only 0.9%. In Europe and North America, the sector is favorably affected by changes in legislation - the authorities are actively stimulating the growth of wood use in the construction industry and power.