More than €1.5 billion of illegal Russian timber has been found entering the EU by investigators from UK-based non-profit, Earthsight, according to its latest report.
The investigation ‘Blood-stained birch: exposing the EU trade in Russian conflict ply,’ caught firms on camera, in voice calls and through internal documents arranging a steady flow of Russian plywood into the EU. These companies are selling illegal wood across the continent, with all 27 member states likely receiving illegal plywood.
The Earthsight investigators posed as buyers over a nine-month period, recording traders admitting the practice is illegal, calling it a “gold mine” and suggesting techniques to avoid detection.
The UK-based NGO estimates that more than 500,000 cubic metres of conflict timber, with a retail value of over €1.5 billion, has flowed from Russia through third-party countries and into the EU since sanctions were imposed in July 2022. Earthsight says more than 700 cubic metres are arriving at EU ports and borders every day, equivalent to 20 large lorries or shipping containers. It says the largest volumes are being shipped to Poland, followed by Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Estonia.
Long valued in construction for its physical properties, in recent years consumption of birch plywood in the US and Europe has skyrocketed. It is used in an increasing number of everyday construction products including kitchens and furniture. The investigation suggests that seven of the top 10 Russian birch ply exporters are still supplying timber to the EU, with Belarusian state-owned firms also helping facilitate the trade and selling banned wood products to the EU.
Timber contributes significantly to Russian GDP and exports, with all forests being state owned. To hide the trade, Russian firms told Earthsight they launder the ply via third countries, often Kazakhstan or Turkey, with much of the timber routed through China.
Earthsight has called for current timber sanctions to be amended to include goods made with Russian timber in third countries, making enforcement easier. Earthsight’s timber and sanctions team lead Tara Ganesh said: “Profit-hungry smugglers find it all too easy to launder plywood through third countries and into Europe via soft entry points. It’s so easy that as much as a fifth of all the birch plywood on sale in Europe today is thought to be illegal Russian blood timber. With the outlook for Ukraine looking bleak, Poland should use its current Presidency of the EU to end this blood-stained trade once and for all.”
Earthsight is a UK-based non-profit organisation that investigates to expose environmental and social crime, injustice and the links to global consumption. Its full report can be read online: ‘Blood-stained Birch: exposing the EU trade in Russian conflict ply‘.
