Over the past five years, Montenegro has exported firewood worth 32 million euros, and most of it went to neighboring countries that have bans or restrictions on logging in order to protect their forests, according to data from the Monstat Statistics Administration.
The export of this natural wealth is growing significantly. In 2015, firewood was exported for 4,63 million euros, while last year the amount grew to 9,13 million euros.
If it were assumed that the average cubic meter of wood for firewood for export is around 45 euros, it comes to the data that only last year around 200 thousand cubic meters of wood were cut for this export. A total of 700 cubic meters of wood is allowed to be cut in Montenegro annually in state and private forests for all purposes.
Most of Montenegrin firewood ends up in Kosovo, where five years ago, logging was limited and the export of raw wood and lumber with a low volume of processing was banned in order to protect their forests and encourage the production of finished wood products. Last year, firewood for 6,6 million euros and raw timber for 14 million euros were exported to this market. Firewood was exported to Kosovo in 2018 for 2,9 million, in 2017 for 3,1 million, in 2016 for 667 thousand euros and in 2015 for 313 thousand euros.
Last year, firewood worth EUR 853 was exported to Macedonia, Italy for EUR 807, Albania for EUR 567, Serbia for EUR 195, Croatia for EUR 80, Slovenia for EUR 30, and also for Canada. in the value of 111 euros. In the past five years, firewood from Montenegro ended up on the markets of BiH, France, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Russia...
In nine months of this year (January - September), firewood worth 3,1 million euros was exported, of which the most was 1,45 million euros to Italy, followed by 631 thousand euros to Serbia, 458 thousand euros to Albania, Kosovo 275 thousand euros, Turkey for 181 thousand euros...
At the beginning of 2017, after the preparation of the study, the Government of Montenegro made a decision to ban the export of firewood and wood raw materials from March of that year until May 2019. The goal of that decision, as stated at the time, was to protect its forests, as well as neighboring countries, to encourage the production of finished wood products and to enable a decrease in the price of firewood for its citizens.
While the ban on the export of firewood and raw materials was still in place, the Ministry of Agriculture boasted that illegal logging and "pressure on forests" had decreased, as well as that the export of processed wood had begun to grow.
However, the ban only lasted for five months, because it was already canceled in August with the explanation that the market had stabilized even though no serious wood processing had been started.
That it can be different is shown by the example of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose wood industry in 2019 had exports worth 1,33 billion convertible marks, which is about 680 million euros, of which the export of finished furniture amounted to 260 million euros.
In 2016, Albania and Kosovo introduced a ten-year ban on exports and restrictions on logging. Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have similar decisions.
The export ban lasted only five months with the promise that there would be no growth
When in 2017, after only five months, the Government lifted the ban on the export of firewood, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said that they were doing so because there was an excess of low-quality wood, and that they did not expect the export to grow. They also said that they would do everything to "not have a convoy of trucks with wooden assortments towards the border crossings".
Adem Fetić from the Ministry of Agriculture said then that there are five factories in Montenegro that have machines for small wood cutting, which is why he does not expect to export cut wood (for firewood) in large quantities.
“We don't know how many people will produce it. I don't think it can be more than a few thousand cubic meters of firewood and a thousand or more TT poles, which is insignificant. The key was that there are considerable stocks, and these are stocks of low-quality wood that come from private and partly from state forests. It was not a reaction to anyone's special request... It is our response considering that we have information that there are increased offers of stocks of that drive", Fetić told TV Vijesti at the time. The export of firewood in 2016, before the ban, amounted to 4,83 million euros, and in 2017, despite the five-month ban, it increased to 6,6 million euros. It is now worth 9,13 million euros, almost twice as much as in the year before the ban.
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