Australian builders, architects, and specifiers who for nearly nine months have agonised over an ever-widening supply gap in high-strength engineered wood products have found an unforeseen \u201csaviour\u201d \u2013 Russia by way of China, according to sources in the timber industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The wood product needed to complete thousands of unfinished \u201ctop-half\u201d construction projects around the country seem to have found few structural alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The material also known as laminated veneer lumber (LVL), originally developed in Australia in the 1970s is used primarily for structural applications and is comparable in strength to solid timber, concrete and steel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd heaven forbid, we were penciling in steel on our blueprints as a last resort,\u201d the chief executive of a large Sydney construction company confessed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now some of Australia\u2019s biggest processors of domestic timber are re-configuring their machinery as they switch roles to become net importers, filling once-empty warehouses, it\u2019s claimed, with an endless supply of Chinese engineered wood products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Controversially, sources say this produce is manufactured from Russian logs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was not so long ago that both PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) and FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) suspended trading certificates in Russia and Belarus, blocking all controlled wood sourcing from the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Australian timber importers were big users of the Russian product, notably a range of engineered wood products. Collectively, these imports provided between 40 per cent and 50 per cent of the market for LVL, formwork and beams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There have been few structural alternatives to LVL in any meaningful volume and any plans to set up high-capacity LVL factories in Australia would face, at least, three to five years\u2019 lead time before they were fully operational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the past 12 months, Australia has constructed around 140,000 detached dwellings, with this level of demand set to continue for at least 18 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Detached dwellings use large quantities of lumber \u2013 softwoods for roofs and lightweight framing, hardwoods for joinery and flooring, and LVL for beams. In addition, carpentry represents about 20 per cent of the cost of the average new home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia is the world\u2019s fourth largest softwood producer at 40 million cubic metres. But domestic consumption is only 10 million cubic metres, so Russia was the world\u2019s largest timber exporter at 28.5 million cubic metres before the Russia-Ukraine conflict stopped this industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But for the Russians, there are many ways to get around the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For months the UK Timber Importers Federation has warned UK consumers about the risk of Russian birch plywood using China as a \u201cgreen lane\u201d for importation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Timber Trade Federation<\/a> in August said: \u201cA worrying development has emerged in recent weeks as TDUK members have reported increasing offers of Birch Plywood coming from the far east, particularly China. Given that Birch forests are concentrated in Northern Russia and Eurasia; it is almost certain the Birch contained in the Plywood being offered has in fact originated in Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n