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After the sanctions on Russian timber came into effect, heavy timber imports began in Estonia from countries where, according to documents, there shouldn't be much forest at all, the daily Postimees writes.
CEO of the Estonian Forest and Wood Industries Association Henrik Valja said in a recent interview that although Russian plywood has disappeared from the market due to sanctions, Russian timber has not disappeared from Estonia. The scheme of illegal Russian timber is very simple -- it is declared in the documents that the timber comes from third countries instead.
Valeri Rauam, area manager at the customs department of the Tax and Customs Board, said that last year a total of nearly 586 million kilograms of goods belonging to commodity group 44, that is wood, wood products and charcoal, were imported into Estonia.
"Over 90 percent of imports took place in the first seven months and the main country of origin for wood imports was Russia, from where over 80 percent of wood was imported. In addition to Russia, imports took place from another 52 countries, including larger quantities from Norway, Belarus, Brazil, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States," Rauam said, adding that a sharp drop subsequently occurred due to the sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus.
"The import of wood from Russia was greatest just before the complete import ban, during the transitional period from March to July 2022, where imports were allowed on the basis of contracts concluded before April 9 or their additional contracts. Since July 10, no wood has been imported from Russia," Rauam said.
But nature abhors a vacuum: instead of Russia and Belarus, other countries have assumed their place in Estonia's timber import statistics. Norway, Ukraine and Vietnam are at the front -- imports from those countries have increased the most. China, Brazil and the US also feature prominently. In March this year, for example, imports from China made up nearly more than all other imports combined.
But completely new countries have also been added, such as the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan, which were added as new countries of origin in 2023. In the United Arab Emirates, 4.5 percent of the country is covered by forests, according to the World Bank.
"The import of wood from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan has increased after the end of the transition period. In order to make sure that there are no scams regarding the countries of origin and that the goods actually come from the declared countries, we carry out a customs inspection upon the arrival of the goods and check that the goods correspond to what was declared," Rauam said.
According to Rauam, some violations regarding the origin of the goods and falsification of the goods code have also been detected.
"At the same time, there have also been cases where we have received confirmation from the country of origin that the origin of the goods is correct and that the goods have left their country. In addition to Kazakhstan, we have also focused on the Kyrgyzstan direction as an object of inspection," he added.
The Tax and Customs Board conducts a physical check, while documents are also checked.
"If there is still doubt, we will contact the customs of the country of origin with a request as part of a follow-up inspection to get confirmation that the goods come from the respective country," Rauam said.