Unpaid taxes and the rapidly rising value of the rouble have forced Siberia's largest timber producer to file for bankruptcy.

In 2021 Russia was the European Union's (EU) fifth-largest trading partner, exporting more than 3 billion dollars' worth of timber to the EU. The anti-war sanctions imposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine have inflicted substantial and irreversible losses on the Russian timber industry.

Russian media reported last week on the bankruptcy petition filed by Russia's Federal Tax Service against one of Siberia's largest timber companies, Tobol Timber Company, over millions of roubles in unpaid taxes. The service asked the regional arbitration court to open bankruptcy proceedings after Tobol Timber Company's bank accounts were frozen on 12 September, according to Ura.ru.

Tobol Timber Company's difficulties reflect a wider crisis in Russia's forestry sector. After a prolonged decline in output and mounting losses, the Sveza group, owned by Russian billionaire Alexei Mordashov, halted operations at its Tyumen plywood mill last week, laying off 323 workers. In July, the Russian Association of Pulp and Paper Producers warned that the strengthening of the rouble and the collapse of exports to Europe could force many timber industry companies to close.