“The amount of timber that will be sold in 2025 could be less than this year”, admitted Witold Koss, Director General of State Forests, in an interview with PAP. He added that the institution expects, among other things: that a greater part of the raw material will remain in the country due to the potential limitation of its export outside the EU.
The head of the State Forests confirmed in an interview with PAP that a new timber sales system will come into effect next year. As he emphasized, the proposed changes were “mainly supported by the timber industry”. He added that the new system is also the result of guidelines from the Ministry of Climate and Environment, which include, among others: promoting local timber processing.
Restriction on export of Polish timber outside the EU
Witold Koss stressed that the goal of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the State Forests themselves is to limit the export of Polish timber outside the European Union. Therefore, the Director General of the State Forests called on the ministry to introduce a ban for three years (from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2028).
We have received a statement from the ministry that it will deal with this matter urgently. If there is consent, the changes to the law should come into force as soon as possible, so that they can come into force from 2025.
– Koss said.
Another idea of the LP concerns the introduction of an additional group of GTUs to the regulation of the Minister of Finance, Investment and Development concerning the detailed scope of data contained in tax returns and registrations in the field of taxes on goods and services. There are currently 13 groups of GTUs in the regulation. If the Minister of Finance agrees, timber would be the 14th group. State Forests explains that this would allow unprocessed timber to be linked to the provisions of the EP regulation on the making available on the EU market of certain goods and products related to deforestation and forest degradation and export from the EU.
In this situation (raw timber included in the GTU – PAP group), the entrepreneur who purchases from the Forest and Timber Portal will be required to submit a declaration whether he processes timber in Poland and also undertakes to accept our inspection (…) . Using the GPU code, we will be able to check how much timber has not been processed and how much has been sold. This way we will be able to correct and reduce the purchase history of a given customer if this timber leaves the EU. For example, if someone bought 10,000 cubic metres of timber and this is his history, then he sold 5,000 cubic metres to countries outside the EU, next year’s procedure (ordering and purchasing timber from LP – PAP) will reduce this history by 5,000 cubic metres.
– explained the CEO.
The purchase history is an important element in LP’s timber sales system because it gives priority to the purchase of raw material, which is also cheaper. Koss stressed that the introduction of LP’s proposed solution aims to limit the sale of timber to companies that then resell this unprocessed timber, for example, to countries outside the EU.
“The supply of wood may be a little lower.”
When asked by PAP about the timber supply for next year, the head of State Forests admitted that it could be lower. In April, the LPs announced that they planned to obtain 40 million cubic meters of timber in 2024, which is practically the same amount obtained in 2023.
According to our simulations, the supply may be slightly lower and this is due to several reasons, including: related to the protection of more forests. Several dozen forest districts do not have approved forest management plans. Therefore, our plans for next year are very cautious
Koss said.
At the same time, he highlighted that he hopes that the tightening of exports will allow more raw materials to remain in the country.
The CEO also announced that two rounds of sales will be held in 2025, not three as in 2024.
Thanks to this solution, we want to be able to react if something bad happens.
– added Koss.
Wooden pool for sale
The head of State Forests announced that negotiations with the timber industry have been underway to increase the pool of timber on offer to buyers with a history from 70 to 75 percent next year.
We also plan to increase the percentage of non-price criteria from 20 to 25 percent. For example, wood processing in Poland. Debarking will be the minimum scope of processing. We will also eliminate sorting and packaging as processing that we recognize. This last category in particular could be used as a lockpick to bypass the system.
– said Witold Koss.
Non-price criteria include: percentage of wood processed, depth of processing, and geography of purchase.
Another change to be introduced in the timber sales system concerns the promotion of entrepreneurs who process the raw material close to the time of purchase. The director reported that the State Forests are working on this solution, but when the idea was presented during a meeting with the sector, it generated opposition from some entrepreneurs.
The biggest doubts were expressed by large companies that buy raw materials, such as oak, from all over the country. These companies are unable to meet their needs locally. That is why we are refining our proposal. We have a project on this subject and it will be discussed.
– said the general director of LP.
e-drewno portal
Witold Koss added that the way the industry presents offers as part of offer sales will also change.
Until now, the customer could submit a 100% offer. His history and there were situations where more wood was ordered this way than was available. We will limit these orders to 75%. history. As a result, a 25% buffer is created, which we can also allocate to the free market on the e-drewno portal, which is used by entities that do not have a purchase history.
– he explained.
Most of the timber obtained by State Forests is supplied to entrepreneurs and purchased through the Forests and Timber Portal (70% of the volume offered) and through the auction system (30%). This constitutes approximately 80 percent of the offers from State Forests. The remaining 20 percent goes to retail sales, mainly to individual customers.
Entrepreneurs who have a so-called purchase history, that is, they bought wood from LP in previous years. All entrepreneurs, including new entities with no purchase history, can purchase wood at the system’s auctions. They also receive wood that could not be sold on the Floresta e Madeira Portal.
Entrepreneurs can also purchase raw materials at electronic timber auctions, which are held on an ongoing basis, but the offers from forest districts are sporadic and often concern small quantities of raw materials. This includes so-called wood waste (intended for the production of so-called wood chips) and raw materials not previously included in the procurement plans, but originating from sanitary felling or carried out as part of the removal of the effects of disasters – for example, strong winds or storms.
READ MORE:
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— Will there be a ban on exporting timber from Poland outside the EU? State Forests: The Ministry of Climate will urgently address this issue
– OUR INTERVIEW. Sałek on the announcement of “social forests”: Foresters are terrified by what is happening in Polish forestry and nature conservation
– ONLY WITH US. State Forests wants to liquidate Rep. Robert Telus’s stud farm? “Does that mean they intend to kill these horses?”
NT/PAP
