The Finnish foreign trade minister remains hopeful that a dispute with Russia over timber tariffs could be settled, even though Russia has insisted it will not back down from raising duties on its timber exports.
During a ministerial summit this week Finland proposed exempting smaller birch logs for use in wood pulp. This would not threaten Russia’s wood processing industry, but would relieve the pressure on Finland and Sweden’s paper producers, which import about one-fifth of its logs from Russia.
Russia, which wants to increase duties from €15/m³ to €50/m³ from 2009, is officially negotiating with the EU as the issue is also tied to Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
However, the head of Russia’s State Forestry Agency, Valery Roshchupkin said: “Russia’s position is clear and we do not see any signals from the government that a decision on the duties may change in connection with the WTO talks.”
