MINSK, 12 February (BelTA) – The organizations affiliated with Belarus' Forestry Ministry exported goods and services worth $154 million in 2019, which was up by 10% over 2018. Only the Volozhin forestry failed to meet the export target (94%), Belarus' Forestry Minister Vitaly Drozhzha said as he spoke at the ministry's board meeting, BelTA has learned.
According to the minister, last year round wood accounted for 3% of the total export in value terms, sawn timber for 59%, barked, rounded products for 5%, chips 25% and others for 8%.
Sawn timber was mainly exported to Lithuania (25%), Germany (25%), Latvia (18%), Poland (5%), Azerbaijan (4%), Belgium (3%), and Romania (2%). “Furthermore, Belarus started supplying sawn timber to China last year, the export of which amounted to $3.9 million, or 4%,” Vitaly Drozhzha noted.
Regarding domestic sales last year, the forestries sold more than 15 million cubic meters of round wood, which was up by 6% from 2018, and some 10.1 million cubic meters of industrial wood. A total of 223,000 cubic meters of industrial wood was exported last year. The sales of sawn timber on the domestic market amounted to 569,000 cubic meters in 2019, which was up by 11% as against 2018.
