Romania exporting more wood than it imports, especially processed wood

  Romania is exporting more wood than it imports, predominantly processed wood, which proves that we are giving added value to the product, and the Romanian government is making money in a horizontal industry, Minister of the Environment, Watercourses and Forestry Mircea Fechet, said on Thursday at the event "The Wood Balance in Romania"."The balance [of Romanian wood] teaches us a few things. Over half of the wood harvested in Romania ends up as firewood. That is something that teaches us that we need to accelerate investment in the national natural gas network. It also teaches us that we need to accelerate investment in energy-efficient stoves. In fact, this year we have started the 'Stove Discount' and we are increasing the efficiency of Romanians' stoves from 25% to 75%. This means that instead of three carts of wood, you will use only one. (...) The balance will also dismantle a myth, or rather the myth of wood export. We are exporting more than we are importing. That means that all those transports of timber, whether they come on wheels or by rail, do not mean that we are exporting the wood, because the difference between exports and imports is significant. A more important thing than this trade balance is related to the fact that we are predominantly exporting processed wood. That proves that we give added value to wood through processing. The Romanian government earns money in a horizontal industry, and we want to have an increasingly competitive industry," said Fechet.The minister added that 8 million cubic metres of wood reaches the industry every year."However, the industry still uses a lot of imported wood. and here, first of all with Romsilva, we will make sure that we will modify the regulation for the sale of wood, in the sense that Romanian wood is more accessible, that it is at a predictable price, that there can be long-term supply contracts and that we can ensure sufficient quantities for the industry. The balance also tells us that in 2024 we harvested less than we could legally have done. If the forestry arrangements allowed us to harvest 22 million cubic metres of wood, we harvested about 18 million. This is also due to the lack of adequate infrastructure. Romania has among the fewest forest roads in the European Union, about six metres per hectare of forest, a very small figure, at least compared with other countries."According to data centralized by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests (MMSAP), included in the 2023-2024 "Wood Balance in Romania" a share of 91% of the wood harvested in the country comes from managed forests from the national forest fund, and 58% from public forests, and 32% from private forests. At the same time, 30% of the timber harvested was shipped as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).At the same time, 90% of the individuals who traded timber in 2023 and 2024 have forest properties of less than 5 hectares, of which 50% own forest properties of less than one hectare.As many as 55% of the legal entities that traded timber own properties of less than 30 hectares. Also, 55% of the wood volume in 2024 was harvested over distances close to over 500 metres.The Group for Forest Dialogue organized on Thursday the conference on "The Wood Balance in Romania", a project implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Environment.