Russian logging companies pay the state a fee for forest use, which is currently about one euro per cubic metre of wood. The forest use payment is one tenth of the production costs of wood.
In order to increase the state’s forestry income and to intensify forestry, the minimum rate of forest use payment is being converted to market-based. According to the plan, the forest use payment would be based, among other things, on the forest leaser’s wood processing capacity and degree of processing, as well as the amount of forest regeneration work and forest road construction.
The planned reform would increase the forest use payments significantly, in particular for SMEs, and strengthen the concentration of logging companies on large forest industry groups.
Read review: Reform of forest use payments in Russia