Sale at the seller's warehouse Currently, an interesting trend has emerged in the lumber market - Buyers are afraid to give advance payment, and manufacturers do not want to cut without money. This happens for a number of reasons. Buyers, often taught by bitter experience, or having read horror stories about unscrupulous sellers on the Internet, do not want to risk money, and manufacturers, who have also learned from their own experience the fickleness of buyers, do not take risks.

How to buy lumber correctly?
Sale at the seller's warehouse Currently, an interesting trend has emerged in the lumber market - Buyers are afraid to give advance payment, and manufacturers do not want to cut without money. This happens for a number of reasons. Buyers, often taught by bitter experience, or having read horror stories about unscrupulous sellers on the Internet, do not want to risk money, and manufacturers, who have also learned from their own experience the fickleness of buyers, do not take risks. I often hear from potential buyers a question that is reasonable on their part - What does the seller risk? After all, if the terms of the contract stipulate the principle of “goods-money” at the time of shipment at the seller’s station, then even if for a number of reasons they do not pick up the goods, then it still remains with the seller. I agree, the goods are from the seller. And who will count his losses? After all, in order to cut a board, you must first buy round timber, deliver it to the sawmill, saw it, sort it, pack it, etc. The yield from round timber to edged board is no more than 40%, i.e. to cut 75 cubic meters of edged boards (carriage), you need to buy and bring 180 cubic meters of round timber. This is quite serious money. Further, wages are usually paid to workers at the sawmill according to the volume of incoming timber, i.e. deal. Again, the buyer did not buy the board from the seller, but pay for the round timber, pay the workers, pay for electricity, etc. To do this, we urgently need to sell the unpurchased lumber. And this is not so easy to do, especially if the lumber is non-standard. So, as a result, the manufacturer got into debt. I owe it to the workers, I owe it to the suppliers of round timber, I owe it to the state. Everything seems to be fine, they say he will sell the board and pay off. At the same time, buyers forget that the board tends to deteriorate. Different breeds wood varies, some turn blue, others turn green, others turn black, but they all deteriorate! Plus they warp, crack, etc. This means that if he didn’t sell quickly, he got in at all. And buyers, many deliberately, stage such tricks. The contract is drawn up in accordance with GOST 8486-86, grade 0-3, natural humidity, payment terms “upon acceptance at the seller’s warehouse.” The receiver arrives and begins to reject. It takes only grade 0-1, the rest is supposedly not needed. As a result, the seller begins to become hysterical. He needs money today!!!. There follows a lot of calls to the owner of the receiver, a sea of ​​negotiations and settlements, as a result of which a compromise is found - the buyer takes all the goods, but 30 percent cheaper. And the seller, most often, agrees to this, because... if he is indignant, the receiver will simply leave, and they will begin to shake off his debts (see above). I’m already silent about the costs of railway transport. carriage, cleaning and delivery, etc. Naturally, after all this, this seller will not work without advance payment.

To cut a window to Europe...

Many directors of Russian sawmills and plywood factories want to sell their products directly, without an intermediary, but do not know how to do this. Since this problem arises everywhere, I will try to briefly answer this question in this article.

Russian products in conjunction with Western ones

What is selling directly? There is no need to explain what it means to sell your products to the end consumer and make a much larger profit than if you sell through an intermediary. The final consumer for lumber and plywood from Russia is mostly builders and repairmen. And builders, in turn, are divided into professional and non-professional. It seems that everything is simple: Russian boards and plywood need to be sold to builders and repairmen, all that remains is to invite a translator, find addresses in the Western telephone book and establish contacts. But this path is only suitable for professional construction companies. Those people who make repairs privately buy materials in DIY stores (Do it yourself) - in our opinion, “do it yourself”. This means that in order to sell Russian plywood and lumber directly, you need to contact construction companies and DIY stores abroad. Note that the benefit is obvious for both buyers and sellers-manufacturers: neither one nor the other pays intermediaries. However, there is one condition: the delivery interval is 45 minutes if you are selling to a DIY store. And half an hour - if you are selling to a construction company. Let's give an example: you must deliver 5 thousand m 3 of pine lumber to a store in Paris on May 25, 2008, between 16.15 and 16.45.

It is clear that organizing such a supply from Russia is impossible. I think that it is extremely difficult to fulfill such conditions within Russia, and only companies with excellent logistics, which are basically absent in our timber industry complex, can do it. This condition can only be met in one case: if you have warehouses abroad and an established system for distributing goods from these warehouses. Therefore, the only way for even large Russian sawmills and plywood mills to actually sell directly to end consumers is to have their own distribution centers in the countries to which they export. All the largest Scandinavian, German and other manufacturers and exporters of forest products have their own warehouses with a distribution system in the export countries. However, Russian manufacturers, unlike Western ones, will not be able to work only with their own goods. After all, even with a warehouse and established distribution in the UK, you cannot be responsible for the fact that a ship from Arkhangelsk with lumber will arrive on time. And if you don't fill your warehouse with lumber, it will sit empty and the order will not be fulfilled. You'll just burn out! Therefore, under the existing forest industry system in Russia, Russian lumber can be successfully traded directly only in assortment with lumber from other manufacturers. That is, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, German manufacturers who will supply lumber on time, although more expensive than your own.

Are we buying a distribution center with employees?

Next, the question arises: how to acquire your own distribution center in the country of export? Since no one will build it for you there, you need to purchase a distribution center for woodworking products. Moreover, purchase it together with qualified employees, clients, and a system of work that has been established over many years. Moreover, the moment for such a purchase is very favorable: in the USA, Great Britain, Japan, which are the main markets for building materials made of wood, an obvious crisis in construction and stores selling lumber and plywood are becoming cheaper. I note that all of the above may be of interest only to large Russian enterprises with a large volume of sawmilling or plywood production. Such, for example, as OJSC Solombala LDK or Sveza Group of Companies. After all, investments in sales abroad are very significant; millions of euros will be required. The first sign of this was Investlesprom CJSC (at the time of purchase - Segezha Pulp and Paper Mill), which was acquired by the Swedish Korshnas along with its sales network. However we're talking about not about woodworking products, but about the production of paper bags. What if you have a small sawmill and want to sell directly? In this case, you will have to forget about the possibility of selling directly to builders, since you will not have the funds to purchase and manage such an asset abroad. The best option is to sell its products to a distribution center abroad. This could be the center of a large company, such as Finnforest in the English port of Hull. Or an independent supplier without its own sawmill, which sells plywood, lumber, and wood-based panels. Such an enterprise is called timber merchant in Great Britain, and lumber yard in America. In Russian, this is best translated as “carpentry trade yard”, or, more simply, carpentry. These woodworkers sell lumber and plywood primarily to professional builders. Such enterprises, as a rule, are decades or even hundreds of years old. Most often, they are owned from generation to generation by one family who knows almost everything about the tree. For many years they have been establishing relationships with suppliers and buyers and often have goods from Russia in their assortment. It is these wood merchants who are the best clients for the sale of Russian lumber by small sawmills in order to obtain the greatest profit. They will be able to wait a month or two for boards from Russia. Today, large Russian sawmills work with some of them. It turns out that such wood traders are interesting and large enterprises as an object for purchase and as a partner; and small sawmills as the only possible end consumer.

Where to go for a Russian lumber supplier

I'll start with Finnforest. After all, the Finnish system of work in export sales of lumber is what we should strive for Russian enterprises. Finnforest is part of the Metsäliitto Group, produces wood products, Finnforest's turnover is 1.7 billion euros per year.

In order to sell lumber, plywood, wood-based panels on the UK market, one of the main ones in the world, Finnforest acquired the business from one of the largest and oldest British carpenters: the Montague L Meyer (MLM) company sold its distribution center-warehouse to Finnforest in 2002 and planing works in the port of Hull, as well as a system for selling lumber throughout the country. The Finns store wood products, accumulate batches and schedule deliveries to end consumers. It is possible to negotiate with end consumers on the spot, and this is convenient. Such interesting example It is worth considering for the largest Russian timber industry holdings. I mean the acquisition (absorption) of a foreign distribution yard for the sale of Russian lumber. This is one of the most convenient options: there is no need to rebuild the entire distribution system. We just need to keep it in working order and adapt it to trade in lumber and plywood from Russia.

The deal truly strengthens Finnforest's leadership in the UK markets. Finnforest's turnover grew by one fifth in the UK (to €380 million), and the volume of supplies of wood products increased from 800 thousand to 1 million m 3 per year. As stated by the company's management, this acquisition made it possible to improve the quality of Finnforest's supplies to nursing institutions, industrial and construction sectors. MLM imported 300 thousand m 3 of lumber from Scandinavia and Russia. The deal significantly increased exports of sawn timber and other wood products from Finland to the UK.

MLM's main clients are tradesmen in construction materials for professionals. Now they have become Finnforest clients. At the same time, the port and processing areas in the Port of Hull also transferred to Finnforest. By the way, you can sell Russian lumber and panels through Finnforest.

Or you can see which distribution centers for woodworking products are for sale and think about buying. Why can Finnforest, but, for example, Solombala LDK - not? Now sawn timber arrives at the Finnforest terminal in the port of Hull mainly from Finland and Russia. In Russia, the company produces lumber at its own sawmill and buys it from other Finnish and Russian companies and sells to the UK.

Russia's increase in roundwood export duties puts the Finnish sawmill industry in a difficult position: sawlogs are becoming very expensive and many sawmills are closing. This leads to an increase in capacity in the North-West of Russia. And Metsäliitto will be able to sell these products through the Finnforest terminal in the port of Hull.

Why don’t the largest Russian sawmills consider the possibility of purchasing space in the port of Hull or in another port in the countries that are the main consumers of wood products from Russia. A consultant will help you consider such possibilities.

Finnforest UK contacts:
CEO Ari Martonen, tel. +358 50 2406, +358 10 469 4870,
Finnforest UK, Managing Director John Tong,
tel. +44 77 1099 8727, +44 20 8437 8368
Market Area West, Director Ole Salvén, +44 20 8437 8380, tel.: +44 77 1099 8727

Now let's move on to the company Montague L Meyer, which only had a business selling slabs left. It was created 100 years ago. The company has eight outlets in the UK and sells all types of wood-based panels. The products offered by the company can be delivered to the consumer within 48 hours. Most of the company's wood-based panel imports come through the huge central distribution warehouse at Tilbari Dock, through which the company's main distribution takes place. In addition, thanks to good relationships with wood processing companies in Europe, direct deliveries to end consumers are possible, in which MLM plays the role of an agent. Russian plywood manufacturers should consider this possibility of selling their products through MLM or another distributor. The company operates through London and is owned by the Le Meyer family, which is very convenient during negotiations.

Tsar Timber Group (TTG)− a company that sells northern softwood timber, mainly from Russia, in the UK. TTG controls 10% of the Russian sawn timber market in the UK. Recently, Tsar Timber Group reached an agreement to acquire the Pyaozersky private farm, one of the largest logging companies in Karelia, with a harvesting volume of 300 thousand m 3. In addition, the company owns Russian logging assets in Karelia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, and Irkutsk Region. TTG considers the acquisition of assets in Russia as part of the company's strategy to provide raw materials for its own processing. In particular, Sir Tim Lewin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tsar Timber Distribution, states regarding the purchase of a timber industry enterprise in Karelia: “The purchase of the Pyaozersky private farm is the next important step in the development of a vertically integrated company and the promotion of Russian lumber on the European market. We know that at the moment Russian lumber has to be sold on foreign markets at a significant discount to Scandinavian products. This is largely due to the irregularity of deliveries and lack of work with consumers. We actively advertise Russian products in foreign markets. We hope that the image improvement Russian products will help not only our partners, but also Russia as a whole.” The TTG group already includes Kemsky LDZ OJSC, so we see opportunities for synergy between the companies. With the arrival of Tsar Timber Group at the Pyaozersky private farm, part of the timber will be supplied to the Kemsky LDZ, which will increase the supply of raw materials to sawmills in the Republic of Karelia. Now the supply of own raw materials in Karelia does not exceed 35%.

Contact Information:

Sampsa Auvinen
Commercial Director, Tsar Timber Group
Email: [email protected]
tel.: +810 44 1405 766666

A German company bought the lion's share of products from Arkhangelsk LDK No. 3 OJSC Cordes. Cordes then sold the lumber to other intermediaries or end users. Now the company has become the owner of Arkhangelsk LDK No. 3, and the company, together with Tsar Timber Group, will be the first Russian lumber manufacturer to sell boards to end consumers.

What conclusions can a Russian enterprise draw when considering the strategy of such companies? There are several of them: firstly, the first role in times of serious changes in the market is played by one’s own resource supply. Secondly, we see that companies are basically just adding missing links to the value chain. That is, if you have harvesting and woodworking, but do not have your own sales system, you should think about purchasing it. Of course, the above only applies to largest companies and mainly to those behind financial organizations. TTG, for example, is managed by an investment fund. In Russia there are also such companies: as an example, we can mention LLC “Russian Forest Group" and GC "Region".

"Wooden yards" will help

But the majority of Russian timber mills and plywood enterprises, of course, cannot afford to even think about purchasing sales assets in Russia and abroad. What should they do? How to organize the export of woodworking products with maximum benefit? I think, first of all, it’s worth assessing your real capabilities and, based on them, try to find the end consumer. And first of all, such end consumers, as I said earlier, will be the so-called lumber yards (literally: wooden yards) or in other words, tim ber merchants (literally: wood merchants). DIY (do-it-yourself) and "wood yards" sell lumber and plywood to builders. The time interval for supplying lumber to DIY stores abroad is 45 minutes. But will a Russian enterprise be able to export lumber or plywood with a delivery interval of three quarters of an hour? The answer is obvious. Therefore DIY is out of the question. The only end consumer left that makes sense for Russian manufacturers to work with is “wooden yards.” They have long delivery intervals and carry assortments of varying quality. This means they are suitable for Russian manufacturers. The main markets for lumber from Russia are Germany, Great Britain, Egypt, China, and the Netherlands. For plywood, the main markets are the USA, Egypt, and Korea.

Let's start with the UK's largest distribution center - Travis Perkins Company. This company is an example of the benefits that can come from selling wood products. After all, they recently acquired one of the largest DIY companies in the UK - Vikes. Travis Perkins is a leading supplier of building materials to professional builders in the UK, having grown out of the timber yard. The company supplies more than 120 thousand products to professional and non-professional builders, and its main profile is products using wood. The company has 800 stores. The sale of timber began in 1900. In 2005, the company acquired 176 Vikes stores. Turnover was £3,186.7 in 2007. Travis Perkins sells its products from a large number of locations throughout the UK. Specialized production units The company focuses on the production of roofing, flooring, doors and door systems, millwork, moldings, etc. A wide range of quality lumber, plywood and other wood products are purchased through a specialized import department that has established strong relationships with sawmills, carpentry and wood processing industries Worldwide. Currently, a good opportunity for export is being organized for Russian companies, since round timber in Russia, due to the introduction of duties, is becoming much cheaper than in the world, and the lack of round timber from Russia leads to an increase in the price of woodworking products in different countries. The company has in its assortment lumber and birch plywood from Russia, but buys them from resellers, for example from Finnforest, which, along with its materials, sell Russian lumber and plywood to the UK. And they, in turn, are bought from Russian enterprises. The Finns bought warehouses and carpentry plants in the port of Hull in Great Britain. Why am I telling you about this? In order for Russian enterprises to think about the possibility of building their own trade, following this example. Due to the fall in the construction market in the USA, Great Britain, and Japan, local manufacturers of millwork products are suffering losses. Their assets are becoming cheaper, and this is a good opportunity to buy warehouses.

Contact Information:

Travis Perkins PLC
Lodge Way House
Lodge Way
Harlestone Road
Northampton
NN5 7UG
tel.: 01604 752424

A little about the Belgian experience

There are several “wooden yards” in the world that have been working successfully with lumber and other wood products from Russia for a long time. Of course, these companies have their permanent partners among Russian enterprises, with whom stable supplies have been established. But this does not mean that they are not interested in new suppliers. One such company is the Belgian van Hoorebeke Timber.

The company has two warehouses in Belgium - in Boom and Ghent. At the warehouse in Ghent, most of the products are pine lumber from Russia and Scandinavia. Canadian and American pine lumber is also sold. The warehouse in Buma is mainly for tropical wood from Southeast Asia, Brazil and Africa. How does the logistics work when supplying lumber to van Hoorebeke Timber?

The lumber arrives in Ghent by ship or truck and is immediately loaded into the warehouse. At Antwerp or Lissingen, the ships are unloaded and the materials are immediately transferred to the warehouse in Boom (except for those shipments that were sold directly to the consumer). That is, van Hoorebeke Timber also acts here as a sales agent. After the vessel arrives, the quality of the lumber is checked. Lumber is sold mainly to Belgium, France, Germany, England, Scandinavia, Spain and Portugal. What’s surprising is that it goes to Scandinavia, but apparently the logistics are so well established that van Hoorebeke Timber can supply there too. In addition to warehouses, the company has a planing plant at its disposal in the port of Ghent, directly next to the warehouses. The planing enterprise has been operating since 2006 and is located on an area of ​​6 thousand m2. It is equipped with modern cutting and splitting equipment.

Van Hoorebeke Timber trade in Belgium began in the mid-18th century. The first import of lumber came by sea - from Riga to Ghent in 1842. Softwood lumber is supplied from Russia, Scandinavia, the Baltic states, the USA, Canada and Honduras. Hardwood lumber is imported from Southeast Asia, Brazil and Africa. Enterprises in the Primorsky Territory, where oak, beech and ash grow, should think about selling materials to Belgium instead of China, where they go at very low prices. In addition, van Hoorebeke Timber sells plywood and other wood-based panel materials. At the company's new warehouses in Kluisendok, all processes for processing softwood lumber are centralized; 200 thousand m 3 of lumber passes through them annually. Of these, 60% comes from Russia, 25% from Scandinavia and 15% from Canada. Now Russia’s share may increase significantly - the word is up to Russian enterprises.

The company also has a concession of 30 thousand m2 on the pier next to the warehouses. Once loaded, the lumber is moved to warehouses for marking and stored by length. From 30 to 40 ships with volumes ranging from 1000 to 7500 m 3 are unloaded here annually. Deliveries are prepared within 4-8 hours, and as soon as the transporter appears, the truck is immediately loaded (20 to 25 trucks are loaded daily). Not far from the concession there is a planing plant. The entire area of ​​the enterprise is 120 thousand m2, of which 65 thousand m2 is occupied by offices, warehouses and a planing plant. This is how business works for a typical professional “wooden yard”.

van Hoorebeke Timber company contact details
head office
Kluizensteenweg 1
BE-9000 Gent
Tel.: +32 9 253 86 61
Fax: +32 9 253 98 16

What about overseas?

Now that we've looked at distribution in Europe, let's move on to the US. Very little lumber from Russia is supplied to the United States. The reason is obvious: after all, Canada is closer. But the United States is a large consumer of birch plywood from Russia.

One of the largest distributors of birch plywood from Russia is the company Holland Southwest. The company sells birch plywood from Russia with a thickness of 3 to 25 mm, corresponding to Russian GOST 1055−71.

This company was founded in 1953 by an emigrant from the Netherlands. Warehouses are located in Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Oklahoma, Memphis and Mexico City. The company makes direct purchases of plywood in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, and Indonesia. Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Great Britain, Spain and Venezuela.

Contact Information:
Phone: 713-644-1966
Fax: 713-644-7223
E-mail: P. O. Box 330249
Location:
6805 Silsbee
Houston, TX
77233 - USA
www.freemansupply.com

We briefly showed in the article how the distribution of lumber and plywood from Russia in the world works. It will take years for Russian companies to reach a high level of sales. And now it’s worth starting by establishing direct relationships with the largest wooden yards in the trade. Production requires a proven chain of coordinated supplies of timber and the operation of enterprises. In part, Investlesprom is trying to solve this problem in the pulp and paper industry by acquiring the Swedish manufacturer of paper bags, the Korshnas company. Korshnas has a distribution network for paper bags in many countries. Let us note here another opportunity for Russian companies: the acquisition of a foreign asset, which includes not only a distributor, but also a manufacturer, will minimize the risks of irregular supplies from Russia, since the Western company will carry out its regular deliveries.

In conclusion, I would like to say that now Russian enterprises first of all need to solve operational issues of resource provision and product sales. However, establishing an export trading network will sooner or later become one of the priority issues for Russian plywood and lumber manufacturers. And whoever prepares a sleigh in the summer has a chance to have a great ride in the winter.

Igor RYVKIN

The construction business in Russia is one of the most profitable and relevant business niches. Demand for products is constantly growing even in times of crisis. Buyers often choose quality products, regardless of their price. The reliability and durability of the structures being built depends on this. One of the popular areas of the construction business is the sale of lumber.

Business Features

Since July 1, 2017, it has been valid in Russia new system wood accounting from the moment of felling until actual delivery to the end user - EGAIS Forest.

The sale of lumber to individuals is carried out using a passport. Organizations must enter into an agreement and register in the EGAIS service.

The main consumers of lumber are furniture companies, construction and other industrial organizations.

One of their advantages is the low cost of wood, especially when production is located in the Asian part of the country. Competition in this segment is very high. Therefore, you need to study its features:

1. Initially, this concerns the products themselves, which are short-lived and quickly lose their presentation. The production and sale of lumber must occur subject to an order from the buyer.
2. Quality products cannot be cheap. The price includes costs for equipment, rent of workshop and warehouses, utility and transport payments. Manufacturers often sell defective materials cheaply, which are difficult to sort when purchasing in bulk.
3. Most sawmills operate on a partial or full prepayment basis, preferring cash payments.
4. You need to be prepared for delivery delays. Often entrepreneurs have to carry out delivery themselves, which leads to additional costs.

Common Misconceptions

Beginning entrepreneurs doubt that selling lumber to private individuals can happen quickly and profitably. Let's look at the main myths:

1. Lumber is sold only in the warm season. This is wrong. There is always a demand for good wood.
2. Buyers only need high quality and expensive materials. Larch is in high demand, but in fact, many construction companies purchase inexpensive grade 2 products that are used for cladding. You can find clients on specialized ones on the Internet.
3. Only sale of lumber from low prices can attract buyers. This approach is not economically justified. The difference is 100–200 rubles. does not significantly affect sales volumes, especially in retail sales. Of course, at first you can stand out from your competitors. However, a drop in will increase the payback period.
4. It's better to have one, but regular customer . Over time, such a misconception leads to the fact that the buyer relaxes, demands a discount, delays payment and imposes cooperation according to new rules. To prevent similar situation, it is important to ensure a flow of new customers who will be satisfied with the conditions, price and quality of the material.
5. When concluding an agreement to sell lumber online, you can run into trouble. Of course, such a possibility exists, especially in Moscow and other large cities. The scheme is simple: an order is placed with the terms of delivery and payment after acceptance. When the goods arrive at the agreed location, the buyer refuses to pay due to Low quality and offers to reduce the price by half. Therefore, it is necessary to immediately clarify the requirements by which the products will be evaluated.
6. Expensive advertising budget. This is also not true. There are a lot of free strategies and effective types - posting on ad services, forums for builders, advertising boards.

Where to begin

The first step is registration as a . The second option allows you to establish cooperation not only with an individual, but also with enterprises. For example, if you plan to wholesale lumber.

The next stage is searching for premises. Production workshops must meet the requirements. You need to obtain permission from regulatory authorities (Rospotrebnadzor and).

You can reduce costs by using your own land. Since renting large areas with access roads is expensive.

Production premises must be equipped with machine cooling devices. There must be access to working electrical networks, water supply, and sewerage. Production involves certain costs for the purchase of equipment. Possible options:

1. Purchase of used units. This option is much more profitable than the others, but also more risky. Equipment may periodically fail. Organizing a continuous production process will be difficult.
2. Purchase of equipment.
3. Purchase of domestic equipment. Perhaps the most best option because you don't have to pay customs duties and transportation services.

On average, purchasing equipment will cost 500,000 rubles. The optimal set of machines for small production:

1. Simple band sawmill - from 150,000 rubles.
2. Conveyor belt – from RUB 100,000.
3. Edge trimming machine – from RUB 50,000.
4. Other auxiliary equipment.

With the expansion of the range of products, additional units will be required.

Search for specialists

To organize the production process, maintenance personnel will be required. The number of operators depends on the work schedule, plans and type of equipment. Some units can operate in automatic mode.

The administrative apparatus consists of a manager, an accountant, and managers for the sale of lumber. Additionally, drivers, security guards, and laborers will be needed.

Monthly wage costs for 20 people – 600,000 rubles. Additionally, you will have to pay contributions to funds and taxes. Their size is up to 20% of the wage fund.

Assessing business profitability

To establish the production and sale of lumber to the population, about 1.8 million rubles will be required. This includes:

1. Registration – 20,000 rub.
2. Rental of workshops, warehouse, store – from RUB 100,000.
3. Purchase of equipment – ​​at least 500,000 rubles.
4. Salary – 600,000 rubles.
5. Costs for the purchase of raw materials – from 500,000 rubles.
6. Other costs.

Wholesale sale of lumber is much more profitable. With an increase in the volume of products sold, the share of non-production costs in the cost decreases ( wages, transportation costs, electricity).

When trading at retail, the average price of 1 cubic meter is 5,000 rubles. With monthly sales volumes of 200 cubic meters, revenue will be 1 million rubles. Net profit – 250,000 rubles.

Selling lumber from the manufacturer is not an easy business. An entrepreneur must understand the construction industry, be able to establish relationships with suppliers and consumers of products, and constantly study the market.

Do you want to know when your business will pay off and how much you can actually earn? Free app Business Settlement has already saved millions.

* The calculations use average data for Russia

10,000,000 ₽

Minimum start-up capital

127,500 RUR

Net profit

25%

Profitability

The business of selling timber is considered a very profitable area; the demand for timber almost never decreases, and therefore the seller always has the opportunity to earn a lot of money. Wood needed a huge number enterprises, the simplest examples are construction organizations and furniture manufacturing companies. Of course, there may be seasonal fluctuations, but an entrepreneur whose business is developed and has regular customers very rarely turns out to be unprofitable.

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However, you need to understand that a considerable number of people want to engage in this area, which means it can be difficult to get a plot of forest for use, but the vast majority of forest plantations belong to the state, and only the authorities can decide to whom to give this or that piece of land for use. There are some other problems in this business, for example, there is a stereotype according to which this business criminalized even in our time, which increases the risks of an entrepreneur.

Organizing a timber sales business

First of all, you need to register as a subject entrepreneurial activity. However, only if timber trade will take place not only on the territory of Russia, then you need to contact the Ministry of Industry and Trade, where a license for customs clearance cargo, which includes lumber, timber and similar goods.

At all international trade in this direction is a rather complicated direction, since a license is issued only for certain types of wood, for specific volumes, and also for a limited period, but you need to understand that here to a greater extent It is not national legislation that applies, but local legislation, so it makes sense to immediately seek help from a lawyer. However, when working only in Russia, there are also conditions. Namely, at the moment, an entrepreneur does not have the right to acquire ownership of a forest plot to exploit it as a source of timber; today all enterprises involved in this area lease plots from the state, however, the term of this lease can be up to 49 years.

This is precisely the first and, perhaps, main difficulty in organizing this business - obtaining a site for work. True, it is worth noting that in Lately The government is considering the possibility of selling forest plots to entrepreneurs for logging, but if such a law is adopted, it is not yet known under what conditions. On the other hand, even if you rent a plot of land, you can count on a normal profit.

Registration of a timber sales enterprise

Let's look at this in a little more detail. So, after registration, an entrepreneur has the right to participate in auctions, which, as a rule, are held by local departments for forest resources (for example, the Ministry of Forestry of the desired region). The entrepreneur himself can find a suitable place for him and submit a request for a plot, but it is far from a fact that the authorities will be interested in his proposal; and even if the site is actually ready to be rented out, an auction will still be scheduled for it.

At the very first stage, the first difficulty arises - not only entrepreneurs who are going to fell the forest have the right to receive part of the forest, but also those who are going to use it for other purposes. For example, the authorities are especially favorable towards those businessmen who intend to use the forest as a recreational area. Moreover, special requirements are imposed on bidders - the user is obliged not only to exploit the land provided to him, but also to care for and maintain the forest. In our case, this is an obligation, after felling trees, to restore the integrity of the forest with new plantings, which, after they have grown, can be used as a source of wood; it’s a kind of continuous cycle, and the authorities are interested in ensuring that it is continuous, and not that the entrepreneur is left with bare terrain.

Moreover, the entrepreneur still needs to choose a site depending on own capabilities and simple convenience - for obvious reasons, those areas of the forest that are not located in the thicket are most valued. Also an important factor in the choice is the availability of valuable wood species, although, of course, there is a demand for almost all trees (some because of their quality, others because of their cheapness).

The cost of a plot depends on all these factors, as well as on the density of plantings - for example, a sparse forest will cost several times less than a dense one, which, in general, is natural. There are also local peculiarities - in some region you may be lucky to get a plot of land for rent for a relatively favorable conditions, and somewhere you will have to pay a lot of money every year. The bureaucratic red tape is very serious here too - auctions are held state enterprises, can be processed and take a very long time, so you need to have several months in reserve. Moreover, it is not always possible to immediately win one or another auction; there are always enough people willing, and the authorities themselves can make very serious demands - that is, they would rather refuse all auction participants than issue permission to at least someone. In different regions, depending on politics and climate characteristics, the price can change several times, but most often it is determined not by the size of the plot, but by the density of plantings.

And tree species. But if we try to bring everything to average figures, we will get about 15-20 thousand rubles per hectare per year. Let us repeat - this is a very, very rough calculation, since it is quite possible to find offers for 5 thousand rubles, and for 50 thousand (and sometimes even more). In general, here every entrepreneur preliminarily assesses the potential of the leased plot (the density of trees and their quality are checked). There are proposals for relatively small plots (up to one hectare), and for plots of considerable size, on which you can work for a very long time (more than 10 hectares).

When a location has been found and the entrepreneur has successfully won the auction, you can begin organizing your enterprise. Within the framework of this article, only timber trade will be considered, but not the production of lumber or other products; in other words, this business includes the felling of trees and the subsequent sale of the resulting materials, but not their processing. In order to be able to fully carry out the work process, the entrepreneur needs to have a territory for placing equipment and work complexes. Usually, on the site that is leased, there is free space suitable for erecting buildings.

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So, you will need an administrative building, not necessarily a capital one, as well as at least two warehouses for storing products. The cost of building a warehouse depends on many parameters, but in our case we do not need high-class premises; it is not profitable to pay for an A+ category warehouse. You can get by with a simple indoor room, in which the wood storage standards are simply met (in terms of humidity, first of all). In general, the cost of one square meter of the building under construction will cost the entrepreneur between 5 and 10 thousand. The size of the warehouse is determined depending on the planned amount of timber received, but still it is rarely less than 500 square meters. The first warehouse usually delivers freshly felled timber, the second – already slightly processed wood (that is, “clean” tree trunks, free of branches).

Next you need to buy everything necessary equipment for work at the enterprise. In addition to simple devices such as chainsaws, you will also need to purchase machines for felling and transporting trees. This includes so-called skidders and trucks for transporting freshly cut wood. Although in cases where warehouses are equipped directly at the logging site, no additional transportation is required, because the tractor can immediately place them in the warehouse. Additional equipment is purchased for the tractor - namely trailers, hydraulic manipulators, grabs, buckets and forks. Normal foreign equipment costs from 5 million rubles (this means not only the tractor, but also all the devices for it in total). Freight car can be purchased for an amount starting from 1 million rubles.

Features of finding employees for timber sales

The next step in organizing a business is finding employees to carry out the work. The entrepreneur himself can be a leader. At the same time, you need to understand that sometimes you have to equip something like a village for employees, where they can constantly stay (and this is an additional considerable expense).

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Here you will still need an amount of several hundred thousand rubles - depending on what conditions are provided to them. But it’s still worth first of all considering the possibility of attracting employees who can attend work close to home. Such workers receive a lot - their salary level starts from 30 thousand rubles, usually amounts to 40 thousand rubles, and can reach up to 50 thousand. It must be said that forest fellers get paid depending on their output, that is, they won’t have to pay extra money. The boss (if he is solely involved in monitoring activities) and transport drivers receive at least the same amount.

An average enterprise employs 10 or more people, so the average amount that will need to be allocated for wages starts from 400 thousand rubles per month. At the same time, all other business processes that are not related to the organization’s profit making can be outsourced. Additionally, you should contact insurance company, which can insure the life and health of employees - the cost of annual insurance starts from 15 thousand rubles per person, rates vary depending on the conditions of insurance payment.

Sales and Marketing in the Timber Business

The next step in organizing your business is finding buyers for your forest. There are many sites on the Internet that allow you to post your commercial offers. Also, an entrepreneur can simply start visiting potential clients on his own, offering them his product. On the websites of many companies that are constantly in need of wood, there are purchase requests, and it is relatively easy to find partners and consumers.

Of course, you will have to work with companies all over the country (and those who have received a license can also work with foreign companies; Russian forest, by the way, is very much valued). But most buyers work according to a system that involves self-pickup, that is, the entrepreneur does not have to organize delivery using his own transport. But, of course, you need to understand that demand may vary depending on the type of wood, as well as its quality, and if you are unlucky enough to get a plot of land from which you can extract bad material, then it is quite likely that customers refuse wood. But hiring a specialist before renting a site should solve this problem.

Registration of a legal entity – 20 thousand rubles.

Rent of 10 hectares of forest – 200 thousand rubles.

Construction storage facilities with an area of ​​500 m2 - 3.75 million rubles.

Purchase of a skidder and truck, equipment - 6 million rubles.

Salary – 400 thousand rubles.

Insurance – 150 thousand rubles.

Fuel and consumables – from 50 thousand rubles.

It turns out to be a little more than 10 and a half million rubles. Monthly expenses range from 450 thousand rubles. The cost of timber differs depending on the type (deciduous and coniferous are the species that almost all entrepreneurs in Russia deal with), but if we take some average figure, then one cubic meter costs about 2 thousand rubles.

There is, of course, cheap wood, which is sold for less than 1 thousand rubles for the same volume, and some good species can cost more than 5 thousand. If we take the volume of monthly sales equal to 300 cubic meters of wood at a price of 2 thousand per cubic meter, then we get 600 thousand rubles of income and 150 thousand operating profit. 127.5 thousand – net profit. But still, such a business is not very profitable (about 25%), because a significant part of the income goes to cover expenses, which include paying wages (usually the largest figure per month), purchasing consumables, paying rent, and the project itself is always designed for several years in advance.

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Now, without registering with LesEGAIS, it will not be possible to purchase, sell, or make any other transaction, even with wooden boards and firewood, which are lumber included in a certain list.

What is LesEGAIS

The need to register transactions with timber and prepare electronic declarations appeared back in 2015. From this period, when selling or purchasing forest, each of the parties to the transaction has obligations to provide electronic declarations to the LesEGAIS operator (Part 1 of Article 50.5 of the Forest Code of the Russian Federation). This requirement does not apply only to individual buyers.

LesEGAIS is a unified state automated Information system designed directly to automate state control of timber transactions. Reporting to LesEGAIS is transmitted via the Internet to in electronic format, and there is no need to duplicate and fill out paper copies of reports.

To prepare and send reports to EGAIS, the buyer does not require a separate special software. The declaration is submitted online via the Internet after registration on the website lesegais.ru. Step-by-step instruction The registration procedure is available on this portal.

What changed in 2017

From July 1, 2017, the list of types of wood that are subject to the requirements for mandatory declaration of transactions has been expanded. In particular, the expanded list includes products from primary sawmilling (lumber, firewood, beams, sleepers, boards, logs, etc.). Full list given in the Explanations of the Government of the Russian Federation dated June 13, 2014 No. 1047-r.

According to officials, expanding the list of primary sawmill products is aimed at proving the legality of its origin, as well as tightening measures to suppress illegal transactions with wood and lumber.

Who provides the reporting?

Organizations and entrepreneurs carrying out transactions with wood and lumber according to the lists send a declaration to the EGAIS operator. And it will spread this requirement and on retail trade with individuals.

But citizens who buy wood or make other transactions with it, provided for by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, do not have to report anywhere.

The declaration form and instructions for filling it out were approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated January 6, 2015 No. 11.

When and how to report

If an organization or individual entrepreneur who is a participant in the timber trade does not have access to LesEGAIS, they need to register in the system (receive a login and password). After registering on the portal, it becomes possible to submit declarations and register a transaction.

The next step is to declare the agreement. To register the agreement, the transaction participant has five working days from the moment of conclusion of the agreement (or execution of an additional agreement to it), but no later than one working day before the moment of shipment (clause 3 of Article 50.5 of the Forestry Code of the Russian Federation).

A separate declaration is completed online for each contract by all parties to the transaction. Those. the supplier, for its part, registers the contract in LesEGAIS, and the buyer does this at the same time. In this case, the declaration is drawn up for the total amount of the contract, even if there are several deliveries under invoices, and they will be carried out on different dates.

After this, reports are prepared for the submitted declaration. They are filled out once a month, they need to show the turnover of actual deliveries that took place for the month, for all invoices. For example, the contract was concluded in July, deliveries will be carried out monthly from July to October. The declaration is drawn up for the entire amount of the contract, and reports are filled out monthly for the turnover of the month, as a result the system summarizes the reports of all months and they coincide with the amount of the declaration originally sent.

Zero report

Using the example given above, if in any of the months of the contract, say in September, there was no delivery, a zero report form is submitted for that month. Then, having continued to ship or purchase wood under the declared contract in October, a report is provided containing data on shipments for this month.

Agreements concluded before July 1, 2017 - transition period

The buyer and seller must submit declarations on timber transactions to EGAIS to register and receive from EGAIS a declaration number on timber transactions, which is included in the accompanying document for timber transportation.

Let's assume that the contract for the supply of lumber was concluded in June 2017, and delivery under it began only in July 2017. The question arises, is it necessary to declare this contract? Regulatory acts do not provide a direct answer to this question. But in private clarifications, officials recommend that such a “transitional” agreement be declared and in the future indicate the number of this declaration in the accompanying documents.

With “transitional” agreements, there may be problems with missing the date of declaration of the agreement (within five working days from the date of conclusion of the agreement). To avoid disputes with controllers, it is recommended to close old contracts by signing additional agreements to them. At the same time, starting from July 2017, draw up new contracts and report on them in accordance with the described procedure.

Conclusion of an additional agreement to the contract

An additional agreement is equivalent to the conclusion of a contract. According to available clarifications, information about additional agreements to contracts should be submitted to LesEGAIS within the prescribed period after signing the additional agreement to the contract.

The need to provide accompanying documents during transportation

The form of the accompanying document for the transportation of wood, as well as the rules for filling it out, were approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated June 21, 2014 No. 571.

Form of accompanying document for timber transportation.

The number of copies is not established by regulations accompanying documents, which are required to be completed by the participants in the transaction. From the literal interpretation of the rules, it follows that at least one copy of the document must be filled out for each shipment. Moreover, if there are several participants in the transaction, for example, several carriers, it is logical for each to receive a separate copy (Article 50.3 of the Forestry Code of the Russian Federation).

In this case, an accompanying document will be filled out for each transportation, if, for example, there were several of them in a month.

Types of transportation and accompanying documents

An accompanying document must be prepared for any type of transportation (by road, rail, water or other transport).

You can not fill out the document only when moving through the organization’s own territory within the same complex. If the owner carries his own cargo beyond one of his own structural unit to another or to a sawmill, then obligations arise to prepare an accompanying document for transportation, despite the fact that your own wood or lumber will be transported.

Transactions with individuals

Reporting to LesEGAIS is provided for all transactions with wood and lumber, including those concluded with citizens who do not have individual entrepreneur status (Part 9 of Article 50.6 of the Forest Code of the Russian Federation). This means that having carried out a transaction with an individual, it must also be declared. As a result, there is a need to ask the citizen for his passport information.

Citizens who purchased wood for personal needs do not have to fill out an accompanying document for transportation, but if checked, they must present a document confirming the transfer of ownership of the forest or lumber.

Responsibility

Administrative liability is provided for in Art. 8.28.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation for violations of the procedure for processing transactions with timber.

Please note that administrative penalties for all violations listed below and the amount of the fine are determined only by a court decision.

Thus, in the absence of an accompanying document for the transportation of wood, the following will be imposed:

• for officials in the amount of 30,000 rubles. up to 50,000 rub. with confiscation of wood and (or) Vehicle, which are the instrument of committing administrative offense, or without it;
• on legal entities- from 500,000 rub. up to 700,000 rub. with or without confiscation of wood and (or) vehicles that are instruments for committing an administrative offense.

Responsibility for failure to submit declarations or providing knowingly false information in them is also punishable by a fine:

• for officials in the amount of from 5,000 to 20,000 rubles;
• for individual entrepreneurs - from 7,000 to 25,000 rubles;
• for legal entities - from 100,000 to 200,000 rubles.

In order to avoid having to prove in court, for example, that the information included in the declaration was not knowingly false, it is necessary to approach the preparation of the declaration and accompanying documents responsibly, which will prevent mistakes in haste or carelessness.