Actuality January 28, 2008

   Russia possesses a quarter of world's reserves of wood, but at the same time its share in world's volume of production does not exceed 5%. As analysts consider, it mismatches the possibilities of the Russian Federation to get the income from wood comparable to oil and gas extraction.

So, the currency gain of Russian timber industry complex is six times less, than, for example, Canada, while its volume of a world's reserve of wood is 1,5 times less than Russian one.

   The main reasons of such lameness are in inefficient use of wood resources.

If the majority of the developed countries are guided by export of wood goods of high-level processing, Russia is still exporting raw materials. Russia provides about 40% of raw wood deliveries on the world market. By estimations of experts of Chamber of Commerce and Industry, for ten years volumes of export of round timber from Russia to the countries of Europe, first of all to the Northern one, have increased in 2,5 times.

   Every year about 600 million cubes of wood matures in Russia. And matured wood, even by ecology reasons, is necessary to be cut as without fail wheat is harvested.

But because of the absence of roads and other elements of infrastructure, and first of all because of not developed lumber industry, it is gathered at most 160 million cubes in Russia. It turns out, that matured wood is used only for 25-30%, bringing annually about $10 billion while at the maximum processing Russia could easily have $120-140 billion from wood a year.

The new Forestry

Code was approved; it was the attempt of the state to establish order in the Forestry.

It is not enough to approve the new code, it is difficult to realize it

   As notes Natalia Komarova, the chairman of Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation for natural resources, wildlife management and ecology, now it is still early to sum up, but it is a high time "to analyze the condition of the wood legislation at the present stage in order to reveal bottlenecks and to eliminate them, improving the government in the field of wood relations".

   The new Forestry Code, in her opinion, made new organizational and economic mechanisms of conducting forestry. Many powers on management of woods are transferred from federal level to the regions.

The list of use of woods in commercial usage is considerably expanded. It is established, that forest plots are let on lease by results of auction. Forestry enterprises passed into the ownership of

the regions of the Russian Federation and till January, 1st, 2008 will be transformed into forestry and recreational forests.

   The fundamental point of the Code: wood resources are property of all Russian people.

For this very reason transfer of woods to private property is out of the question, forest plots will be rented out for the term under 49 years. According to the new legal document such legal guarantees for Russians as being in forests without obstruction and free of charge, to gather mushrooms, berries, medicinal herbs for personal needs, to get firewood. The exception is made for the woods located on the lands, intended

for needs of military defense, forests in especially protected territories.

   The regulation about creation of wood plantations that lumberers require is included into Forestry Code. A forest plot usually contains uneven-aged trees of different species and the wood plantation is a woodland containing wood of that species and that quality which are necessary to the enterprise.

   And still it is not enough to approve Forestry Code; it's much more difficult to embody it. For example, the document contains the regulations aimed at development of wood infrastructure, including wood roads. But there are not enough means allocated for it, the absence of transport infrastructure in forests leads to that the big stocks of wood are inaccessible to harvesting and rot on the stalk, and harvested one is taken out mainly in winter conditions practically without roads with damage for ecology.

   In development of new legislation the Government of Russia developed and approved regulatory legal acts.

However, by the present moment 5 official documents provided by Forestry Code are not approved. For realization of Forestry Code it is necessary to pass some more laws and other legal acts of regions of the Russian Federation.

"Unfortunately, it is impossible to say, that in regions this work is carried out in full and according to the new Code," Natalia Komarova says. " So, in some regions forest users have duties on firefighting, and timber enterprises continue to combine economic functions

and functions of the state government of woods.

As a result not only Forestry Code is often broken but also Civil Code".

E. Rossel tells about the Ural Mountains as “an industrial ridge of Russia”, being at the helm of

the region during the years he passed the hardest stage of economics reforming.

As though responding those who likes to talk about the protracted process of reforming of domestic economics, E.

Rossel says, “It seems to me, th at changes in the society is not a process at all. It is the condition in which it should be permanently adapting to changing conditions and factors …”
Nevertheless it is logical to speak about the results obtained by the region during already executed reforms.

It is called “the most vigorous region of Russia”. It is asserted that nowadays Sverdlovsk region can really be called one of the richest in Russia. Being the fifth on population (about 4,5 million people), the Middle Urals take the third place in Russia on the volume of

industrial production and the fourth on the volume of retail trade.

Industrial production develops with growth rate which one and a half times higher than the average all over the country, and computers and equipment production for the first half of 2007 grew by 60% if compared to the last year.

It is told that if St.-Petersburg became “the window to Europe” for Russia, than Yekaterinburg, that was founded 19 years later than the North Capital, became not less important for the country as “the window to Asia”. The choice of the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk region as a site for the regular summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2009 became a new evidence of it.

The Sverdlovsk region is included to the project of development of the International transport passageway ?2 which will solidly tie Europe to East Asia.

The Sverdlovsk railway goes across three time zones, the rivers Ob, Irtysh, and Kama, the border between Europe and Asia, and northwards crosses the Polar circle.

In the first half of 2007 by the Sverdlovsk railway it was transported 33,5 million tons of goods and train departures raised by 100 if compared to the same period of last year. In Yekaterinburg the line of interurban subway will be started up in perspective that will connect it with

the northern satellite town Upper Pyshma.

The capital of the Middle Urals is connected by “air bridge” with 40 countries of the world, and the project of rearrangement and developing of international airport Koltsovo became the first successfully realized in Ural District mega project of the private-state partnership.

Investments into building are RUR 700 millions ($28 millions)

For seven months of 2007 the South Ural mortgage lending agency (SU MLA) has directed more than RUR 700 millions ($28million) for housing development in Chelyabinsk region. It is twice more than the similar index of last year.
As it was reported by SU MLA, the construction of 62 objects with the participation of

SU MLA is conducted.

Now the agency participates in investment of residential real estate objects in Kopeisk, Korkino, Tchebarkul, Kyshtym, Sosnovsky and Uvelsky regions, Juzhnouralsk, Zlatoust, Upper Ufaley, Ozersk, Ust-Katav, Satka, Emanzhelinsk, Miass.

The agency is building owner and builder of 14 objects situated on the territory of Tchebarkul, Kyshtym, Juzhnouralsk, Uvelsky region, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk.
In total in 2007 SU MLA is going to invest in housing development 1 billion 622 million rubles ($64,88 millions), 30% of them will be directed to low-rise apartment building.
With the participation of SU MLA it is planned to bring into service 38 high-rise apartment buildings and 244 cottages that in total makes 250 thousand square meters.
At the same time the price for square meter in “mortgage” apartments will be by 5-10% below a middle market price, existing in city or in region.
Last year with the participation of the public corporation «SU MLA» more than 200 thousand square meters of accommodation were built in 17 municipal districts of the region.

RUR 900 million rubles ($36 million) were invested.

By the 27 of August, 2007 Russia had gathered 55,5 million tons

of corn (in bunker weight) from 52,7% of the harvested areas.
(Information
- 1 acre = 4046,86 square meters = 0,41 hectare;

- 1 ton = 1?016 tn     = 0,907 sh. tn.)

As is reported by press-service of Department of Agriculture of the Russian Federation  (RF), the corn is threshed from 23,7 million of hectare, crop capacity makes on the average 23,4 metric centners from a hectare.
In South and Central federal districts, gathering of corn cereals is practically completed.

In Privolzhskiy federal district 8,5 million hectares of crops are threshed (62,6% of plan), 16,3 million tons of corn are threshed (for 2,9 million tons more than in 2006), productivity made 19,1 metric centner from a hectare.

As the Department of Agriculture reports, during the last week the weather was favorable to the harvest campaign in the whole country.
According the Department of Agriculture forecast, the total yield

of corn in Russia this year in net weight will make 76 million tons against 78,4 million

tons last year.

Bad weathers, drought remind about themselves and influence the harvest.

In all districts of the Chelyabinsk region gathering of corn began.
This year 1 million 357 thousand of hectares of corn and leguminous plants are to be gathered, that is for 96 thousand of hectares more if compared to the last

year.

As of today 182 thousand of hectares corn is mowed, 9 % of planned are threshed. Productivity of corn on preliminary balance is expected at the level of 15 metric centners from a hectare, total yield – at the level of 2 million tons. The mass gathering of corn will begin in September.

The main works on the laying-in of fodder farms will finish in the nearest two weeks.

In a region 234 thousand tons of hay and 720 thousand tons of haylage are already laid in. These are 90 and 91 % from the planned laying-in.

Only for one conventional head of cattle 19 metric centners of forage units are laid in, and on the whole it is necessary to lay in 27,5

metric centners. Also to the middle September the farms have to gather silo crops, such as sunflower, on the area of 22 thousand of hectares.

For acceleration of rates of harvest works wide-level machinery will be used.

In reaping 3 thousand 400 combine harvesters will be involved.

It has to be noted that prices for corn are already set. The ton of soft wheat of 3 class will cost from 4 thousand 800 ($192) to 5 thousand ($200) of rubles, food barley is 4 thousand 200 ($168), oat is 3 thousand 500 ($140), rye is 3 thousand 600 of rubles ($144). It is planned to finish harvest campaign in agronomical optimum terms.