Sanctioned Russian baltic birch plywood enters the world market via China
Hey all,
just came a TV documentary about a journalistic investigative research.
Before Russia’s war against Ukraine, most “Baltic” birch plywood came from Russia. Since then it has been subject to sanctions and imports have come to a standstill. Journalists point out here that at the same time birch plywood from China is skyrocketing in price and export volume. However, not enough birch trees grow in China to account for the export volume of it. During undercover investigations, the journalists reveal that they asked several Chinese timber traders about Russian birch plywood and the traders not only stated that it was no problem for them to supply Russian birch plywood, but also readily agreed to relabel the wood so that customs would not find out about its origin.
Ineffective sanctions
Business with Russian wood
In addition to oil and gas, until the Ukraine war it was primarily wood that Russia used to generate high revenues from the export of raw materials. But sanctions were supposed to dry up this source. As a result, wood imports from Russia to Europe have collapsed. At the same time, however, wood imports from China shot up - also because sanctions are apparently being circumvented in this way.
— Source:
ZDF - Frontal vom 14.03.2023 (
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