The Estonian Tax and Customs Board (ETCB) have shown how anti-Russian sanctions work by using plywood as an example.
Since 2022, the fifth package of sanctions imposed by the EU banned the supply of Russian timber, including plywood. This has led to an increase in imports of plywood from Kazakhstan and China at the end of last year and beginning of this year.
As a result, full customs controls have been introduced on these shipments, which has reduced plywood imports from Kazakhstan by 20% and Chinese plywood imports by more than tenfold. Plywood supplies from Georgia are also being checked, but no violations have yet been found.
In 2025, Estonian customs conducted 618 inspections of timber supplies and revealed 23 violations. In addition, violations were also detected regarding goods that had already been admitted into the country, but after customs clearance checks were carried out, it was found that the actual place of origin was Russia, and 39 shipments of wood were returned in these cases.
