Forest Club model projects and sites

3: Russian-Chinese Gateways and Timber Flows

Current and Future Trends in Timber Export

Vast amounts of timber are exported from the Russian Far East and Siberia annually. While it is difficult to gather exact export numbers, the table below shows the timber exports from RFE to Asian-Pacific countries in 1999 and 2000. The trend is indisputable; the export of raw logs to the Asian-Pacific countries has increased, while the export of sawn wood and wood chips has decreased.

Timber Exports from the RFE to Asia-Pacific Countries January-October, 2000 [1]

Over the next ten years, demand for Russian timber in Northeast Asia will increase. For example, by 2025 China could face a deficit of 200 million cubic metres of wood per year. To satisfy demand, China will continue to look northward to Russia, and if current trends are maintained Russia will become the single largest supplier of raw logs to China. Environmentalists fear that China plans not only to import large volumes of Russian logs for its own needs, but also to modernize its huge sawmill industry in Northeast China and export sawn timber made from Russian logs to Japan, Taiwan, and other Asia-Pacific countries. These fears may be realized, as China's Heilongjiang Province has seen an increase in new timber processing enterprises, including Nacha Wood, Lancian Wood, Mudanjiang Forest Wood, San Gan Ling, and Xin Yang Wood - together with many others representing more than 600,000 cubic metres of annual processing capacity. More than 2 million new processing jobs have been created in this province over past 5 to 6 years thanks to raw logs imported from the frontier forests of S-RFE. The table below illustrates the increase in the share of Russian raw logs in the total raw logs import into China.

Percentage of Russian Logs to Total Logs Import into China

The border between China and Russia extends approximately 4,000 kilometres, from the south western Primorski Region in the Russian Far East to the Chita and Altai Regions in eastern Siberia. Along this expanse, dozens of border crossings allow the export of logs to China by rail and truck (please see map). According to local observers, there is little monitoring or legal overview of this timber trade. Indeed, some Chinese companies have moved beyond merely trading to investing directly in logging operations in the S-RFE regions. Such pressure is not limited to areas bordering directly on China, but extends westward along the Mongolian border through Southern Siberia and even to Kazakhstan. Over the last years, the Russian-Mongolian gateway Naushki - Suche-Baatar in the Buryat Republic has become one of three major points for timber flows from S-RFE to China, crossing Mongolia and finally entering China in Erlianhot in the province of Inner Mongolia. Officials in Siberia's Altai Republic recently concluded a deal with China to barter Russian timber for Chinese cotton, and they are considering leasing additional forests to Chinese logging operations. A proposed road to facilitate this exchange would open huge areas of pristine wilderness to timber operations and other forms of resource extraction. With China's growing hunger for timber and Russia's lack of effective control over logging practices, such investment will lead to large-scale forest degradation.

The Structure of Russian Customs

The Russian customs service is a two-tier system. Large, well-staffed custom offices are located on major border crossings such as in Grodekovo-Suifenhe and Zabaikalsk-Manjouli; the remaining border crossings have so-called custom points, which are smaller and have less resources. Custom statistics may not be presented by the smaller custom points themselves, but should be included in reports from the larger custom offices. For example, a large volume of logs pass through the border crossing Grodekovo-Suifenhe, but, simultaneously, a number of trucks with smaller consignments going to the Suifenhe area pass through smaller custom points. Since there is no timber depot in Progranichnoye-Grodekovo itself, nearly all trains transporting timber are loaded in areas far away from Grodekovo and checked by other customs offices. The wood loaded here may be Siberian pine, coming from the Baikal area, or ash-oak, loaded and checked in Lesozavodsk-Markovo timber depots and customs points (about 300 km away), which is a branch of Ussuriisk custom's office, or in Dalnerechensk (400 km away) or Bikin (550 km away). The statistics, in general, are compiled by the main customs office, and they also provide initial checks, or delegate this responsibility to a branch office.

Important Border Crossings for the Legal and Illegal Export of Timber

Timber is exported to China primarily using the Chinese Eastern Railroad, which cuts directly across Manchuria from the Eastern Siberian border point of Zabaikalsk-Manzhouli. A second route runs from Naushki in the republic of Buryat via Mongolia through to Erlianhot. A third route, from the Primorski Region's Grodekovo (town of Pogranichnoye) to the Chinese city of Suifenhe, is located just 100 kilometres from Russia's Ussuriisk, which has become a centre for Russian-Chinese trade. According to official statistics, this trade route handles 55 percent of all international trade between the Heilongjiang Province and Russia. Together, these three routes account for about 95 percent of all timber exported officially from Russia to China. The Chinese National Forest Protection Program reports that volumes on these routes have drastically increased in recent years.

Major Timber Routes from Siberia-RFE to China

Over the past few years three more routes across the Amur river have become increasingly busy, demonstrating the dramatic increase in timber export. The cities of Blagoveschensk in Amur Oblast and Heihe have experienced a rapid increase in the volume of timber crossing the border. This border crossing saw an increase in timber volume from zero in 1997 to almost 100,000 cubic metres in 2000. Although there is no bridge or even railway ferry between the two countries in this location, the border trade is very active, in part due to the fact that a railroad connects Heihe to the city of Qiqihar, where a significant part of this timber flow (37,446 cubic metres) was registered in 2000 by the local customs point. In 1999, a Sino-Russian Timber Trade Market was established in Heihe to facilitate increasing log imports. Covering an area of 17 hectares, it is regarded as the largest timber market along the 4000 km border between the two countries.

There are a large number of small mooring points intended for shipping timber along the lower Amur river. Among these are Troitzkoye, Kiselevka, Tzimmermanovka, Yagodnoye, Yelabuga, Lidoga, Haihin, Komsomolsk, and Mago. 50, 000 cubic metres of raw logs were exported from these mooring points in 1999. Although the main destination of timber from these mooring points are Japan and South Korea, some of the raw logs reach China. These small mooring points are especially well-suited to illegal export of timber, and they therefore require careful monitoring. The rich Sikhote-Alin forests are located on the banks of the lower Amur, and this forest remains at risk if the small mooring points are allowed to continue to operate outside the control of local administration.

Another border crossing that is becoming more important for the export of raw logs is located in the town of Leninskoye in Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO) on the Russian side, and two separate custom points in China, sharing a flow of about 47,000 cubic metres in 2000. 41,955 cubic metres came through Tongjang and 3,267 cubic metres through Fujin. Like Heihe, these two towns have railroad connections to the other centres of the Heilongjiang province, which obviously helped determine their fast growth as transit points for logs from Amur Oblast. This territory has good access to foreign raw logs markets, including markets for some hardwood species. The last comparatively big flow of RFE raw logs goes from Khabarovsk in Russia, which is the second biggest city of the RFE and the administrative centre of the main timber producing territory (more than 5 million cubic metres in 1999) to Fuyuan on the Chinese side. On route from Fuyuan to internal China, the logs importers use the Chinese railroad, which helped develop this area and increase timber import from 6,568 cubic metres in 1999 to 42,000 cubic metres in 2000. Some of the other border crossings are subject to serious field investigation by BROC and others, since they are working almost completely outside state control and, reportedly, are available to any sort of illegal operations.2]

It is worth noting that with the development of illegal logging and exports on a large scale from the RFE, some border crossings, such as Xunke and Jiayin, only started to import logs recently. On the other hand, crossings such as Tongjiang, Hulin, Mishan and Dongning, which imported more than 4,000 cubic metres in 1996, did not show remarkable increase of the import volume after 1997. There are a number of different causes for this phenomenon, amongst others the activities of NGOs that have participated in special field investigations and a series of anti-poaching rides.

The main species of Russian timber exported to China are larch (larix in the Chinese specification) and Mongolian scotch pine, which are both softwoods. Other species of pine, such as for example the protected and highly valued Korean pine, are also exported to China. As identified by the international custom code system, the main hardwoods exported from Russia are oak and birch (beech in the Chinese specification). Unfortunately, the international custom code system characterizes ash, one of the most popular species in China, as 'other hardwoods'. This contributes to hiding the fact that ash is, and will increasingly be, one of the most popular species among illegal loggers.

From the table below, it can be concluded that the timber imports from Russia to China, especially log imports, increased by at least 15 times in the last 6 years, from 357,788 cubic metres in 1995 to up to 5,930,938 cubic metres in 2000, with an annual mean increase of 75.35 percent. It should be noted that China's total log imports is also increasing, but the increase of the Russian proportion is faster than that for total imports. The percentage of total Russian imported logs increased from 13.85 percent in 1995 to 43.57 percent in 2000.

Trends in Raw Log Exports from Russia to China via Land Border Crossings

Besides the borders mentioned above, China's coastal border crossings also import some timber from Russia. The timber is mainly exported from the ports of Vanino-Sovgavan, Nakhodka, Vladivostok, Posyet, De-Kastri and other cities of the RFE with a large amount of traditional and newly constructed timber shipping terminals. Please refer to the table below for a comprehensive summary of trends in the Chinese timber market.

Development of models for illegal logging takes place in the deeply corrupt Sikhote-Alin area, which is close to Suifenhe. It has become easier to access this area from the outside with timber, or with logging permits. Timber and logging permits exchange hands here, and Chinese or Russian exporters and wholesalers are able to avoid paying taxes. In this area, representatives from NGOs participating in this project encountered traders and documents from JAO, Amur Oblast, and from Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk Krais.

As a result, the volume of export via small points on the Amur was reduced slightly last year, at least according to statistics, while the total export volume via the 3 major points, including Grodekovo-Suifenhe, increased by 1,5 million cubic metres. A significant part of this flow consists of the most valuable species of timber, such as oak, ash and Korean pine. These species are often logged in violation of existing conservation measures such as the protection of feeding zones for wild animals, and rely on the use of falsified documents.

China's Timber Import from Russia through Coastal Borders (shipment), cubic metres

Problems with Monitoring

The main problem of monitoring hardwood exports is caused by the absence of ash in Russian customs statistics as a separate species. So, ash may easily be presented as another, less valuable timber in Russia as well as in China. Another aspect of the problem is that there are very few customs specialists capable of checking and identifying ash and oak in the piles of logs. Therefore, customs data, either Russian or Chinese, may not be considered reliable enough in terms of hardwood. In 2000, according to Russian data, customs in Primorye recorded exports of about 490,000 cubic metres of hardwood, although Chinese customs recorded only 443,000 cubic metres for total hardwood imports. The NGOs involved in the project have been unable to account for the missing 50,000 cubic metres of hardwood exports at the smaller border points close to Primorye like Heihe or Tongjiang. The most obvious explanation for discrepancies in hardwood export and import volumes is that hardwood used to be both exported from Russia and imported to China classified as either pulpwood, or as another species. Or, the hardwood may have been exported via small, remote border points on the Amur river, completely out of the control of customs officers and document checks. Those points, located in non-settled areas, mainly around the regional borders, like Pashkovo-Sagibovo on Russian side - Jiayin in China, Ignashino-Mohe, Jalinda-Painsang, become places of small size local logging and smuggling as they are rarely monitored or checked.

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