Bulgarian lumber industry endangered

   Moscow. Apr 06, 2009. /Lesprom Network/. The Bulgarian timber and wood-processing industry are falling apart, and their future is in danger. That was announced by the Chair of the States Forestry Agency, Stefan Yurukov, at the opening of the Bulgaria's Forest Week, and the 130th anniversary of forestry service creation, as Novinite informed Lesprom Network.

Sales have halved year-on-year, and the market is still going down. Currently, storage facilities are overloaded, and export to Turkey is critically low, Yurukov said.

"We have reached the backup prices. We cannot afford prices going down anymore", the agency's deputy Chair, Yordan Radoslavov warned.

"Without some state financial support we will not be able to make it", Yourukov said. The sum is around BGN 20 million ($14 million), he added.

The industry's representatives explained that the ban on export of round woods have caused great loss to Bulgaria. Bulgarian markets in Greece and Turkey have been replaced by the Ukraine and Moldova.