Russia postpones timber tariffs until 2011
Russian authorities has postponed the introduction of export tariffs of round timber to 2011.
Russia originally intended to introduce the major tariff increase from 2009, but decided to postpone the move following massive protests from neighboring countries, and first of all Finland.
Now, Russian authorities say the tariffs will be introduced from 2011, newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reports with reference to Russian sources.
Russia wants to increase tariffs in order to stimulate domestic wood processing. Finland however fears the higher tariffs, which will make raw material access of the powerful Finnish wood processing industry far harder.
At the same time, international demands on wood products has over the last year dropped sharply following the financial crisis. That decreases also demands for timber and subsequently also the Finnish need for Russian round timber.
