State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" has signed contracts worth 1.3 billion UAH for timber following the main auctions in the first quarter of 2025, marking the most successful outcome in auction trading over the past two years, reported the company's CEO Yuri Bolokhovets on Facebook.
According to him, nearly 90% of the round timber lots offered for sale were contracted, which is a record figure. The average price increase was 31%. The primary species, pine, saw the largest price rise of 51%. Prices for industrial wood remained almost unchanged. The auctions primarily attracted buyers for the cheapest positions, with 72% of the volume offered being purchased.
Bolokhovets noted that there were 10% more participants in the auctions compared to similar trades last year.
"I would like to emphasize that the timber for the first quarter has only been contracted so far. We will see what percentage of the contracts will be fulfilled by businesses next year. Should there be any refusals, the resources will be put up for additional auctions," he stressed.
The CEO of "Forests of Ukraine" highlighted that the enterprise aims to increase contributions to the state budget, but is always open to dialogue with the market and is interested in creating conditions for the development of Ukrainian woodworking.
As reported, forest management reform began in Ukraine in 2016. Within this framework, the sale of unprocessed timber at electronic auctions has already been implemented. Since 2021, an interactive map showing the locations of wood processing facilities has been operating in test mode in several regions.
A project called "Forest in a Smartphone" has been introduced in the industry, which includes a list of logging tickets for timber harvesting and allows users to verify the legality of logging activities on the agency's online map.
As of June 1, 2023, Ukraine launched a pilot program for the electronic issuance of logging tickets and certificates of origin for timber. Additionally, State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" has initiated a pilot project for procuring timber harvesting services through the electronic platform Prozorro.