BELLUNO. Support for forest owners, training in forestry companies, consolidation of primary processing industrial plants and a network of power plants to recover production waste. It is a three-dimensional recipe, the one indicated by Professor Davide Pettenella, of the University of Padua, for a regional intervention to support the wood supply chain. The culmination of a reasoning that starts from market analysis and passes through an overview of public and private instruments put in place in recent years.
Professor, what are the prospects for the wood market after the Vaia storm in Veneto? How is it possible now to restore value to the wood of our forests?
“First of all, the problem must be framed – underlines Professor Davide Pettenella of the University of Padua – then it should be remembered that overall, between 2017 and 2019, over 270 million cubic meters of standing timber in central Europe (Germany, Czech Republic , Slovakia, Austria …) were damaged as a result of a combination of factors (wind damage and subsequent bark beetle damage), mainly related to changing climatic conditions characterized by hotter, drier summers and milder winters. Furthermore, before Vaia, in 2019, there was already a slowdown in the economic cycle and, with it, in investments in construction, a situation obviously made even more difficult by the subsequent impacts of Covid-19 on the European economy. According to the latest UNECE-FAO wood market report, total round timber consumption in the UNECE region (continental Europe and North America) fell to 1.4 billion cubic meters in 2019, the first decrease since six consecutive years of increase “.
This is the frame, but the Vaia effect?
«Compared to these data, the more than ten million cubic meters grounded by Vaia in Italy represent a phenomenon which, in the perspective of evaluating the general trends of a globalized market, are very small. Consider that in the Czech Republic alone, withdrawals doubled in 2019 compared to 2017, reaching 25.5 million cubic meters. In this context, it was a great opportunity that China moved its supply of logs from North America and the Russian Federation to Europe in 2019, following two policies with synergistic effects: the new export tariffs desired by Trump and the Russian policy of progressively banning the export of logs. Imports of Chinese logs from Europe increased 20 times between 2017 and 2019 and Italy also benefited from this by finding an unexpected market outlet for Vaia logs, which made it possible to decrease the drop in domestic prices , although there has been (decrease to a third to a quarter of pre-Vaia machinery prices) ».
How was the situation handled?
“Let’s say that in Italy and Veneto the administrations involved found themselves substantially unprepared in managing the market, also due to the need to manage the emergency and the lack of experience and skills in the coordination of sales, in the definition of supply chain agreements or other interventions aimed at stabilizing prices, such as those on the storage of logs. In the coming months, the residual wood material from the bark beetle crashes and attacks will be destined only for use as biomass for energy purposes and for other uses with limited added value, such as panels and packaging. To respond to this offer, it would be more than ever appropriate for district heating plants to be built in Veneto according to the organizational model of Alto Adige and Trentino ”.
What should regional policy do to economically enhance the forests?
«In my opinion, there are three lines of action that can be envisaged: first of all services for forest ownership (support for management on behalf of third parties, technical assistance and associations: consortia, but also innovative institutions such as community cooperatives and land associations); then the qualification of forest companies (training and professional updating, register and licenses, multi-year work contracts, simplification …); finally, the increase in the capacity of first industrial processing (sawmills) and of the mini-local biomass heating networks. On these lines of action, it would be desirable that the Veneto Region, when Euroèpa is equipping itself with a Forestry Strategy, as well as the central authority of the Stratum (the National Forestry Strategy), made a strategic planning effort. “.
Has something already moved?
“It should be noted that, among the operators of the regional forest-wood system, there have been initiatives that are opening up interesting and important fields of economic development in the sector: the activity of the Consorzio Legno Veneto with the ForestaOroVeneto project (www.legnoveneto.it ), recognized as a Regional Innovative Network; the It-For project (born thanks to the funds of Measure 16 “Cooperation” of the RDP) aimed at the creation, inspired by the Wood Project of the Autonomous Province of Trento, of an integrated digital platform for the sale of timber and the development of technological companies forestry (www.portalelegnoveneto.it); the WOWnature project of the University of Padua spin-off Etifor for the realization of investments (in particular plantations) using innovative forms of financing (www.wownature.eu); the development of the FSC® certification of wood companies in the sector (Veneto, with more than 500 Chain of Custody certifications, is the second largest region in Italy); the reorganization of the Pefc forest certification of two groups of forestry companies (the Foresta Amica group and the Veneto Foreste Confagricoltura group) after the Region has taken a secluded position in the organization of the system ».
Have they already achieved any results?
“These initiatives demonstrate a positive operational capacity of the companies in the sector that could be better coordinated by identifying the weak links in the supply chain, promoting a strategy of supply and industrial and, in turn, energy enhancement, in summary bringing the various activities of the sector. There is certainly space, but above all, the need for a regional governance action that knows how to frame and coordinate these and other initiatives in a long-term growth perspective ”.
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