AIL – Prolemn announces the initiation of protest actions in the absence of a plan of measures to support overcoming the crisis in the wood industry

Among the conclusions of the meeting:

• The Romanian wood industry is going through a deep crisis, reflected in the decrease in production, closures of production capacities and layoffs. According to the National Statistics Institute (INS), in 2023 the decrease in production was by 24% in the wood industry and by 13% in the furniture industry. Moreover, this trend will continue in 2024, in the absence of an adequate plan of measures.
• The forest-based industry in Romania is a competitive industry, with a direct and induced contribution of 3.5% in Romania’s GDP, with a positive annual net contribution of 3.5 billion Euros in Romania’s trade balance, which supports 150,000 jobs in Romania, most of them in rural communities.
• The artificial reduction of the volume of wood harvested in Romania keeps high prices of the wood resource, which affects the competitiveness of the Romanian wood industry. The programming by RNP – Romsilva of a harvest of only 9 million cubic meters in 2024 risks leading in 2024 to a minimum of the harvested volume in the last 6-7 years, with the consequence of a tense wood market.
• There is a need to eliminate the artificial causes that led to the decrease in the harvested volume:
  • the cumbersome procedure for environmental assessment of forest management plans.
  • the difficulty of placing on the market the resource from the small forest properties, due to excessive administrative procedures.
  • the lack of investments in the forestry sector, especially in the line of making forests more accessible.
  • the chaotic transition to shaped wood.
• The transition to shaped wood must be oriented towards the sale of shaped wood from warehouses, not from the forest roads.
• There are many unfair competition practices at RNP – Romsilva, which must be eliminated.
• For the organization of the wood market, it is necessary to sell 50-70% of the shaped wood resource based on contracts on predicted lots, with qualification for bidding based on the processing history of the previous year.
• To make the bidders responsible for the auctions of wood per foot, it is necessary to re-introduce the guarantee on each lot offered.
• To implement the EUDR, the following are required:
  • the development of SUMAL to provide the minimum necessary information for the geographic location of the plot.
  • orientation of SUMAL as the basis of the due diligence system of economic operators and certification of legal provenance when first placed on the market.
  • the definition of legal provenance when first placed on the market, the removal from the legislation of “loss of legal provenance” after the first placing of wood on the market.
• Essential to avoid a major negative impact in Romania on the wood industry: the Government of Romania should undertake an active dialogue with the European Commission, so that Romania is placed at a low risk of deforestation and forest degradation. National Forest Inventory (IFN) Cycle II results shows an increase in forest area. Also, the stock of wood on stump in Romania’s forests increased by 133 million cubic meters between the two previous cycles of the IFN (2012 – 2018), with an average increase in wood stock in forests of 26 million cubic meters annually, which shows a reduced crop harvest share relative to forest growth. Cycle III of the IFN must be completed to provide information on the evolution of forest area and wood stock per foot. The results of satellite forest monitoring systems must also be presented – including the official tool of the European Commission – Forest Observatory, which shows the practical absence of deforestation and a reduced intensity of wood harvesting, equivalent to a forestry close to nature in Romania.
• As a national strategy, considering the effect of carbon fixation in forests, in wood products and through the substitution effect of other products with a higher carbon footprint, with a balance sheet assessed in a PwC study, for the forest-based industries sector, to 50 million tons of carbon fixed or avoided to be emitted annually; considering the quantified carbon sequestration effect of 26 million tons annually, evaluated in Romania’s official reporting to the European Commission, according to the LULUCF methodology of 26 million tons annually, of which 3 million tons CO2 direct carbon sequestration effect in products from wood placed on the market by the Romanian wood industry, with the valorization of carbon certificates by the Romanian state, there is a need for a reflection in the National Integrated Energy – Climate Change Plan of the potential of the sector, supporting its development in Romania’s industrial development strategy and financing the sector from the revenues of the Environmental Fund Administration with a minimum of 300 million Euros annually.

Almost all these priorities were often presented by Prolemn in dialogue with the state authorities and institutions, without an opening for dialogue to adopt a plan of measures to support the wood industry.

In this context, in Bistrita, it was decided to initiate protest demonstrations – signal, to support the initiation of a real dialogue based on the agenda of demands of the wood industry.

Steps to be followed:

• Presentation of a list of claims – a supporting document to the Government of Romania and a simplified document for public communication, with an invitation to dialogue and signaling the initiation of protest actions if a protocol will not be adopted at Government level to resolve the claims of the wood industry. Deadline: January 31 for submission of claims.
• The protest-signal demonstrations will be organized in at least 4 points in the country, with a minimum of 200 participants in each point. The following areas were proposed: Bistrița, Maramureș, Brașov (for the Brașov-Covasna area), Lugoj (for the Timiș-Caraș-Severin area and Arad), a location for the Moldova area (either Comănești-Roznov, Bacău or Piatra-Neamț areas). Initiative groups will be set up at the level of each protest point, with their deployment scheduled starting on February 8. Claims will also be submitted to other prefectures in the country, where initiative groups will be formed.
• On February 12, Minister Mircea Fechet has scheduled a working visit to Bistrita-Năsăud county, on which occasion we hope to have a dialogue applied to the demands of the wood industry, with the engagement through a protocol of their resolution. In the absence of commitments or dialogue, the protests will continue.

In summary, the claims are as follows:

1. Engaging the Government in a substantial dialogue with the European Commission for placing Romania at low risk regarding deforestation and forest degradation, according to the EUDR methodology.
2. Adapting SUMAL as the basic system for certifying the legal provenance at first placing on the market and providing the minimum necessary information related to the geographical provenance, according to the EUDR.
3. Definition of legal provenance when first placed on the market. Removal of ambiguous provisions on “loss of legal provenance.”
4. Eliminating the blockages that led to the reduction of the wood harvest. Establishing as a strategic objective the placing on the market of a wood harvest at the level of the possibility given by the forest management plans.
5. Placing the shaped wood on the market from warehouses, not on the forest roads.
6. The contracting of 50-70% of the volume of shaped wood through framework contracts on forecast lots, based on the company’s processing history from the previous year.
7. For wood auctions on stump, the establishment of guarantees at the level of each plot where the offer is submitted.
8. RNP – Romsilva’s adherence to the reference prices as starting prices for wood pulp auctions per foot, as well as in substantiating the starting prices for shaped wood auctions.
9. Compliance with the provisions of the Regulation on the utilization of wood mass regarding the transparency of auctions by UATs.
10. The integration into the National Integrated Climate Energy Plan – PNIESC and Romania’s industrial development strategy of some chapters that support a vision of the development of the wood industry, considering the importance of the forest sector-wood-based industries in the carbon balance. Financing the sector from the revenues of the Environmental Fund Administration with a minimum of 300 million Euros annually.

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