MINSK, 3 October (BelTA) – Companies affiliated with the Belarusian timber, woodworking, pulp and paper industry concern Bellesbumprom exported $379.5 million worth of products in January-August 2019 which was 7.9% up year-on-year, BelTA learned from Bellesbumprom Press Secretary Ruzhena Novitskaya.
Bellesbumprom reported an increase in almost all exports. Export of pulp and paper products saw the greatest increase (by 72.8%) mostly thanks to pulp. In 2019, Bellesbumprom pulp export soared 33 times over the same period of last year ($31.2 million over $0.93 million). Paper and cardboard export went up by 15% and came at $59.2 million.
Fiberboard export grew by 5.6% ($68 million), lumber – by 7.9% ($23.4 million), wooden doors, windows and other items – by 7.1% ($5.1 million), and products of forest chemistry – by 20.3% ($6.8 million). Export of wood fuel went up by 8.7% (10.3 million), matches – by 1.4% ($3.9 million).
“Due to a substantial drop in prices in foreign markets for such products as plywood, particle boards, and furniture, export of these products declined,” Ruzhena Novitskaya said. “For example, in January-August 2019 the average price for 1m3 of particle boards was $26.1 less than last year ($144.9 over $171). As a result, increasing the volume of shipments did not result in bigger gains in monetary terms. Bellesbumprom companies shipped 13,500m3 of particle boards more while they earned $4.6 million less than last year. The same applied to export of furniture and plywood,” she added.
According to Ruzhena Novitskaya, the global paper market is undergoing changes: prices for pulp as well as other products are falling, for example, prices for products from bleached pulp dropped by 30%. “In view of unfavorable market conditions, enterprises of the industry take urgent measures to find new ways to boost export of their products,” she noted.
For example, the Ivatsevichdrev company started to supply furniture to a large Polish retail network which enabled the company to operate at full capacity. The companies Gomeldrev and Molodechnomebel began shipping furniture to popular European trade networks. The Lesokhimik company launched a project on advanced processing of raw tall oil which is a byproduct in the production of bleached pulp at Svetlogorsk Pulp and Board Mill. Thanks to this, the company managed to boost its export by 20.3%.
Moreover, enterprises are taking measures to enter new markets. For example, the ZOV-LenEvromebel company started exporting furniture to the United Arab Emirates, thus increasing its export by 10.5%. Gomel Newsprint Mill launched export to South-East Asia and Africa. The Gomel-based furniture factory Progress reported an export growth of 6.9% thanks to new contracts in foreign markets.
“Therefore, the systemic work of Bellesbumprom enterprises to penetrate more active and developed markets of distant countries yields results. While in 2016 the share of export to distant countries equaled 42.6%, in January-August 2019 it totaled 48.3%,” Ruzhena Novitskaya noted.
