Moscow. Aug 24, 2007. /Lesprom.ru/. Bulgaria said on August 23, 2007 it would ban exports of partially-burnt timber for construction, hoping the move would help reduce the number of deliberately-set fires around the country. The ban comes after a government report showed that some 34 000 hectares (84 000 acres) of forests and land have been destroyed by fires in Bulgaria so far this year, which could result in a 15-year annual record for fires.
Authorities point the finger at property investors and logging companies, since permission to cut down a forest is easier to obtain if part of it has been touched by fire. The timber was then bought cheap and sold for a higher price in neighbouring countries, mainly Greece from where it was usually re-exported to other EU members, the Bulgarian press reported. The government did not say Thursday which countries its ban applied to. But farming ministry experts told AFP it could target Serbia, Macedonia and Turkey, but not Greece and Romania which belong to the EU common market, which Bulgaria joined this year.
"It is impossible to ban the export of our timber to Greece or any other country of the European Union," deputy farming minister Stefan Yurukov recently acknowledged.
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