16 / 38
16
China receives 96 per cent of the precious wood exported from
the Far East of Russia (Figures 11 and 12). Estimates by the
Environmental Investigation Agency suggest that at least 80
per cent of these exports consist of illegally-logged old-growth
timber, often from protected areas, stolen with the use of fake
documents and official seals that have been received from
bribed forest officials.
44
The Environmental Investigation Agency tracked valuable,
illegally harvested hardwoods across the Russian-Chinese
border to showrooms around the world. The United States
‘Lacey Act’ requires importers to indicate the country of origin
for timber. The investigation revealed that timber flooring from
China was labelled ‘Made in Germany’ at the request of Lumber
52% 37% 4.5% 2% 1.4% 0.8% 0.8% 0.8% 0.5%
RWE volume, thousand m
³
Value, mln USD
(total: 24,298)
(total: 2,048)
2% Exports share
Graph by Manana Kurtubadze, GRID-Arendal, 2015.
Source: Russian Customs, 2012, EIA, 2013.
12,627
9,048
1,100
482
336
205
191
190
120
Scots
pine
Larch Birch Mongolian
oak
Manchurian
ash
Poplar
Elm Manchurian
lime
Cedar
1,029
729
99
74
57
16
13
18
13
Figure 12: Export of Russian timber to China by tree species in 2012