Russia is ramping up plywood production, with exports to China surging more than 45% over the last 12 months, according to new data provided by China Customs.
As it stands, more than 347,400 cubic metres of plywood—88% of the country’s total plywood imports—came from Russia over the 12 months ending December 2024, an increase from 249,000 cubic metres (81.6% of total imports) over the previous 12-month period.
China is by far the world’s largest producer of plywood, with 9,800 manufacturers producing over 100 million cubic metres of plywood—more than 70% of the world’s total output—before selling it to international markets.
However, in recent years, environmental groups have flagged concerns that China operates as a broker for Russian and Belarusian timber, with plywood made from Russian birch entering European markets via China, Vietnam and a series of “friendly countries” across Eurasia.
According to China Customs, the largest markets for Chinese exports are the Philippines (8.3% or 1,010,500 cubic metres – which has extensive secondary processing facilities), the United Kingdom (6.5% – which has a total ban on Russian timber), the United Arab Emirates (6.1%), Saudi Arabia (5% – currently building the $500b NEOM Gigacity), Vietnam (4.2% – now driving a surge of imports into the US construction market), Japan (4.2%) and Australia (4%).
The new data comes after Wood Central reported that Russia and Belarus account for 50% of all Chinese lumber imports. More than 13 million cubic metres of lumber entering Chinese ports now come from Russia (45.8%) or Belarus (4.3%), making up the shortfall from drops in production coming from Finland, Sweden, and Germany.
Not known is how much of this plywood and lumber is entering global markets and contravening sanctions imposed by the UK, European Union and several Western Countries in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In 2023, an International Consortium of Investigative Journalists investigation found that more than 100,000 tonnes of Russian and Belarusian-linked lumber were entering the EU trading zone via ten friendly nations, including China.
Before the invasion, 12% of all EU timber product imports under Chapter 44 of the Harmonised Tariff Schedule came from Russia and Belarus. However, the issue is that “demand for birch, beech, pine, and oak products remains high,” with “a rise in trade through secondary markets, suggesting efforts to disguise origin to evade sanctions.”
