Poland's woodworking industry faces a shortage of 3 to 4 million cubic meters (about 2.22 to 2.96 million tons) of wood every year, according to foresters. To meet their production needs, Polish companies are forced to import wood from abroad. At the same time, Polish wood, which should supply the national industry, is exported through intermediaries. Unfortunately, the existing legislative norms do not give State Forests the opportunity to limit this phenomenon.
During 2019-2023, according to the State Statistics Service, more than 14.3 million tons of raw wood were exported. The biggest buyer of Polish wood was Germany, which bought more than 5.3 million tons. In particular, there was a significant increase in exports to China, which during this period imported 4 million tons of Polish wood, which accounted for almost 28% of the total volume of exports.
Forestists believe that the changes proposed by the State Forests to the Law on the Preservation of the National Character of the Country's Strategic Natural Resources and the Law on the Protection of Competition and Consumers will allow to change this difficult situation for the Polish woodworking industry and for the country's economy in general.
"Let's remember that the woodworking industry in Poland provides 2.5% of our GDP, therefore, especially in today's troubled times, it is a strategic resource. We want to do everything possible so that it is not exported outside the European Union," says Witold Kos, general director of State Forests.
State Forests proposed to introduce a temporary ban on the export of wood outside the territory of the European Union, member states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Switzerland. Violations of this prohibition are subject to sanctions in the form of arrest, restriction of liberty or a fine of up to 5,000,000 euros. The purpose of this decision is to stabilize the wood market in Poland and provide raw materials for national enterprises.
"Implementation of these changes is in the interests of the Polish economy, and therefore of all of us. It is important that Polish wood remains in the country, and that it is more profitable for Polish entrepreneurs to process it in Poland into finished products than to sell unprocessed wood abroad," Piotr Poziomski, president of the Polish Chamber of Woodworking Industry, said, quoted by State Forests. "If this happens, we estimate that the benefit for our economy will be 12 times greater," he adds.
