Both in the forest and in firewood: profit from wood processing in the Russian Federation increased by 37%

Russia will develop the entire technological chain in the forestry industry: the industry has good prospects for steady growth and has already secured a fifth of the world's timber reserves. Vladimir Putin said this on April 14 at a meeting with the Cabinet of Ministers. Among the priorities is to strengthen the technological base of woodworking, including the production of equipment and machinery. The Ministry of Industry and Trade stated that it has already established cooperation with China and expects to export products to Mongolia. The profit of the Russian timber industry by the end of 2024 increased by almost 37%, and the demand for products increased by 22%, the ministry said. Other topics include the opening of the summer season in the resort regions of the country affected by the bottling of petroleum products, as well as the situation with fires and floods.

Will beaches in southern Russia be open this summer

Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the government on April 14. We started by discussing the elimination of the consequences of the accident in the Black Sea. Tankers Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 crashed in the Kerch Strait on December 15, 2024 due to bad weather. Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Saveliev, who heads the commission for the elimination of the consequences of the accident, said that the Cabinet of Ministers will allocate over 1 billion rubles for the dismantling of superstructures of sunken fragments of tankers and the development of design documentation for cofferdams, special hermetic structures. The Ministry of Transport plans to complete their installation by October 30.

— The bow of the Volgoneft-239 tanker and the broken-up Volgoneft-212 tanker (bow and stern) remained [at depth], that is, three parts. There is a lot of fuel oil in total — 3,919 tons," said Vitaly Saveliev.

The construction of such a protective sarcophagus should not create problems during the subsequent pumping and disposal of the remaining petroleum products, the president noted. By the way, the state of the tanker fleet and shipping companies is still being checked. The Deputy Prime Minister noted that after the completion of this work, there will be increased control over the transportation of petroleum products by sea. Speaking about the plans for the summer holidays of Russians, Vitaly Saveliev announced the possibility of opening the season as usual in the Crimea, Sevastopol and Krasnodar Territory, with the exception of the beaches of Anapa and Temryuk district.

— In Anapa and Temryuk district, the organization of the tourist season using the infrastructure of collective accommodation facilities, sanatoriums, rest homes, hotels, and spa complexes is possible without restrictions. We are waiting for the conclusion of Rospotrebnadzor regarding the operation of beaches and access to the sea," Saveliev explained.

Where forest fires are raging in Russia

This year, the spring flood in the Russian Federation began earlier, as in most regions of the country the winter turned out to be snowless and was much warmer than usual. However, so far there are no significant complications, said the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Alexander Kurenkov. Moreover, the minister announced a significant decrease in the number of flooded areas compared to a year earlier. So far, one residential building, 88 household plots and 33 transport infrastructure facilities have been flooded in the Russian Federation. A week earlier, the agency recorded a rise in water in the basins of the Irtysh, Ob and Angara rivers with local flooding of low-lying areas.

"Currently, the southern regions of the Urals and Siberia, as well as the Volga region, where active flood processes are taking place, are in the area of our close attention," the minister added.

Vladimir Putin demanded that the government respond in a timely manner to emerging forest fires. The President pointed out that in eight Russian regions their number already exceeds the figures of last year. At the same time, the country has enough forces and means to fight fire.

— Therefore, it is very important to respond in a timely manner. To prevent serious consequences and even more so any significant damage to people. Here you just need to keep your finger on the pulse all the time, as they say," the head of state noted.

The first wildfires were recorded in early January in the southern regions, Alexander Kurenkov said. There are more than 680 forest fires on the territory of the country on a total area of over 178 thousand hectares. In total, the fire season, according to the minister, is open in 69 regions: the most difficult situation is in Dagestan and Buryatia, Primorsky, Krasnodar Territories, Astrakhan and Kaliningrad regions. Separately, the Ministry is monitoring the situation in the Trans-Baikal Territory.: There are 46 wildfires on an area of more than 57 thousand hectares. This is almost 60% of the area of all forest fires registered in the Russian Federation since the beginning of the year.

— The thing is that our fire fighting system is no longer aimed at prevention, but at extinguishing large fires. After the adoption of the Forest Code in 2006, the State transferred responsibility for protecting forest protection to "tenants", that is, businesses. And it is not typical for them to be responsible for protecting forests from fires. And the state became the controller. And when there are big fires, then the state gets involved," Vladimir Morozov, a member of the Coordinating Council of the Russian Federation Council for Environmental Well—being and head of the Les working group, told Izvestia.

New markets of the Russian forest industry

The main topic of the meeting, the development of the forestry industry, was also discussed in the open part. Today, this industry in Russia has good prospects and potential for steady growth, the president said. The Russian Federation accounts for a fifth of the world's timber reserves, so the authorities will develop the entire technological chain of efficient use of forest resources. According to Putin, among the priorities is to strengthen the technological base of woodworking, including the production of equipment and machinery.

During the meeting, the President launched the opening of the timber industry facilities. New facilities have been launched in three regions: in the Leningrad region — a modernized production of decorative paper-laminated plastic, in the Moscow region — a workshop for the production of packaging for liquid food products of long—term storage, similar to the products of the Tetra Pak company that left Russia, in the Kaluga region - the production of particle boards and laminated particle boards.

"We need to constantly improve the efficiency of supporting deep wood processing so that more modern enterprises with well—paid jobs appear in our country, so that Russian companies respond to domestic demand and offer high—value-added goods, such as furniture, paper, and forestry products," the head of state said.

The profit of the Russian timber industry increased by almost 37% last year compared to 2023, and demand for the industry's products increased by 22%, said Anton Alikhanov, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, at a meeting.

Currently, Russia and China are exploring the possibility of allowing the supply of Russian wood pellets to China — fuel pellets obtained from peat and wood waste, which are used as heating material. The Ministry of Industry and Trade also expects to enter the export market of Mongolia.

— Since 2022, we have had a very difficult situation in the timber industry and in the pulp and paper industry. This was mainly due to the imposition of sanctions. In this regard, our industrialists had to look for new sales markets, naturally they had to reorient themselves to China and Southeast Asia. This was especially problematic for our northwestern enterprises, since it was close to delivering our products to Europe, and shipping to China became more expensive. But now the industry has reached a stable position and has even shown growth in some types of products," Alexander Spiridonov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Industry and Trade, told Izvestia.

How to get a sports tax deduction

The development of sports was also on the agenda of the meeting. Most of the discussion was about the work of a relatively new mechanism — a tax deduction for physical education, taking the TRP, as well as undergoing medical examinations. Starting from January 1, 2022, citizens can receive these services, but only from organizations and individual entrepreneurs that are included in the special list of the Ministry of Sports. In the meantime, Russian citizens can apply for a tax deduction for sports activities from only 4% of Russian companies — that's how many organizations are included in this list, the president noted. Vladimir Putin drew the attention of Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev to this.

— Mikhail Vladimirovich [Degtyarev], you said that the formation is set up properly. But, as I just said, if people still don't understand something, don't do the paperwork properly, or don't do it at all, it still means that it's not the people's fault, but we're not working on it," the head of state said.

Separately, Vladimir Putin instructed to reduce the financial burden on the families of Russians whose children want to play sports: "there is a lot to work on. I ask you to pay due attention to this and bring this work to its logical conclusion."