MPs urged to support changes to outdated regulations so that Ukraine’s woodworking industry can obtain sufficient timber

Today in the Verkhovna Rada, during the Government Question Hour, one of the MPs raised the issue of the urgent need to increase timber harvesting.

In response, Minister Oleksii Sobolev noted that there are objective reasons currently limiting harvesting — the war and regulatory restrictions. At the same time, there are opportunities to increase it.

“The volume of timber in Ukraine’s forests is estimated at 2.3 billion m³. Each year, 35 million m³ of wood grows. The annual harvest is about 15 million m³ — less than half of that. Meanwhile, in European countries, harvesting averages 70–80% of annual growth, and in some cases even 90%. We have a very large reserve for increasing harvesting according to European standards,” said Oleksii Sobolev.

According to the minister, work is underway to ensure that the Ukrainian woodworking industry receives enough timber.

“We can do this without any harm to the environment, in line with the best European standards. We have a plan for how to achieve it,” the minister explained.

Oleksii Sobolev called on MPs to support amendments to outdated regulations and to take a position regarding the moratorium on the export of unprocessed timber.

It should be noted that the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Environment, and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine, together with the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine and the state enterprise Forests of Ukraine, are working on amendments to regulatory acts. These include updating sanitary rules, temporarily revising environmental restrictions, adjusting the maturity ages of stands to increase legal harvesting, expanding supply on the official market, and eliminating “grey” timber.

It is also worth mentioning that the Verkhovna Rada is currently considering the Draft Law “On the Timber Market” (No. 13227-d of 10.09.2025), aimed at comprehensive regulation and the development of a civilized market framework for the forestry and wood industry complex.

The draft law defines the legal, economic, and organizational foundations necessary to provide domestic processing enterprises and household consumers with timber on the principles of fair competition. The main objective of the document is to balance the interests of all market participants and ensure the sustainable use of forest resources while preventing deforestation and forest degradation.

Regulating just one issue — environmental impact assessment (EIA), as provided in the draft law — would increase the annual volume of timber harvesting by 1.5 million m³.