On the morning of April 12, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Koichi Hagiita stated that the import of some timber and other commodities from Russia will be stopped from the 19th. Affected by the situation in Russia and Ukraine, the price of timber in Japan has risen sharply recently. Will the new import ban exacerbate the situation of low domestic timber volume and high prices in Japan?
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently announced that he will stop importing some Russian timber this week. But according to the latest news, the embargo measures will be implemented from the 19th. On the morning of April 12, the Japanese forestry authority was contacted by telephone. The relevant person in charge said that the scope of the embargo includes three types of processed wood such as veneer.
Single-family houses in Japan are generally made of wood, and Russian wood is often used for ceilings, beams, and columns. According to statistics, Japan imported about 850,000 cubic meters of Russian processed timber last year, accounting for nearly 20% of Japan's total imported processed timber. After the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Japanese timber market was generally worried that Russian timber might be embargoed, and some Japanese businesses rushed to buy Russian timber. Industry insiders in Japan predict that if imports of Russian timber are stopped, an average of 17,000 new homes will be affected each month.
Before the Japanese side announced the ban on imports, Russia had already proposed to embargo some timber to Japan, thus pushing up the price of timber in the Japanese market. The situation in Russia and Ukraine, coupled with the supply chain tension caused by the epidemic, has generally more than doubled the increase in lumber prices compared with last year. According to Japanese media reports, the increase in timber prices has forced some Japanese people to revise their housing plans. When the budget is difficult to increase, the building area can only be reduced.
On the other hand, in response to the tight supply of wood, some Japanese manufacturers have begun to focus on recycling. Some companies recycle waste wood from construction sites and find buyers for the wood through reprocessing. Other furniture manufacturers recycle old furniture, polish it and sell it.
