Speaking at the Russian-Chinese forestry talks, Albert Kasparov from Russia's Forestry Agency said a total of 29,700 cubic meters of trees had been illegally cut down in the first six months of 2005 in the Far East alone.
Illegal felling is especially common in the Primorye Territory, where a total of 181 cases of illegal deforestation causing financial damage of 475 million rubles (about $17 million) have been exposed.
In all, 7,000 instances of illegal forest felling causing 2.9 billion rubles (about $102 million) of damage were found across Russia in the first half of 2005. A total of 300,000 cubic meters of trees were illegally cut during this period.
Kasparov said that the Far East was home to large plantations of precious hardwood forests, in particular ash trees.
"Over 77% of processed ash wood is exported to China," Kasparov said.
Russian timber largely goes to Chinese woodworking companies in the bordering province of Heilongjiang, which processed 220,000 cubic meters of wood annually, the official said.
The problem of illegal tree felling is very acute, and requires unified action from international organizations, he said.
Russia intends to monitor 140 million hectares of forest in 2006, he said.
A Chinese official at the talks expressed the hope that both countries would continue their cooperation in fighting illegal felling and invited the head of the Russian Federal Forestry Agency to hold the next meeting of the Russian-Chinese forestry group in China.
Unprocessed timber exports from Russia totaled 10.8 million cubic meters in the first six months of 2005, of which 3.9 million cubic meters went to China.
