Russia’s “indirect” blow to Poland’s timber industry
Furniture production in Poland, where about 400 thousand people worked, was recently considered one of the key sectors of the national economy. The industry received a blow from an unexpected direction – Russia, which is officially under sanctions.
According to the National Chamber of Commerce for Furniture, about 18,000 workers will be out of a job in Poland in 2023. It is unlikely that the situation will significantly improve this year, and the Chamber predicts that another 5,000 to 7,000 people will be laid off.
The problems affected not only furniture companies, but also the entire wood processing industry, reports the site pravda.ru.
Apparently, sanctions against Russia exist only on paper, because Europe is literally covered with Russian plywood. Officially, it comes from Kazakhstan, although forests in this country occupy about six percent of its territory, and the wood processing industry practically does not exist.
“In 2023, Kazakhstan delivered about 130,000 cubic meters of birch plywood to the EU – the same amount as Poland. In total, the illegal import is estimated at 350,000-400,000 cubic meters,” explains Bartoš Bezubik, president of Biaform.
He says that the problem is not only in Kazakhstan. “Birch plywood comes to the European Union from Turkey, from African countries, and recently mainly via China,” the website tehnowar.ru reports.
The price difference between Polish and other imported plywood in the EU reaches up to 40 percent.
Source: Politics
Photo: Pixabay
Source: bizlife.rs
