The state-owned enterprise Forests of Ukraine has increased its profit to UAH 2.6 billion following the results of nine months of work, the company’s director general, Yuriy Bolokhovets, has said.
“This is ten times more than the industry earned before the reform, in the times of state forestry enterprises. We send the lion’s share of profit to the state budget. These are funds for new weapons, ammunition, military salaries,” he noted.
According to the press service of the enterprise, for nine months “Forests of Ukraine” transferred to the state budget 4.7 billion UAH, which is 1.1 billion UAH more than last year. Hundreds of millions more hryvnias the enterprise invested in new equipment for the AFU.
“The record profit was achieved in a falling market. The situation in the timber market has not improved. Compared to last year, the average selling price of an impersonal cube of untreated wood fell from UAH 1.8 thousand to UAH 1.7 thousand. We also gave up our own processing – realization of sawn timber by branches of SE decreased from 2.8 to 2.1 billion UAH”, – explained Bolokhovets.
According to the head of the company, the profit of SE has increased due to detenization and increased efficiency of the state enterprise. The majority of purchases have been transferred to Prozorro, which allowed to eliminate gaps in timber sales related to direct contracts – products are sold at the established competitive market prices.
It is noted that customers are offered additional services, in particular, loading and customs clearance of products. The level of fulfillment of exchange contracts has increased to almost 90%. Services of contractors for harvesting and other works have been standardized, and boundary prices have been introduced.
In addition, the electronic accounting system was improved, which made it more difficult for illegal timber to enter the market, and the demand for legal products increased accordingly. Also, all non-purpose expenses of branches such as “paving stones” were reduced.
State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” standardized the staff of branches and reduced unnecessary administrative staff, as a result of which it replaced almost half of the branch managers.
The company has also decided and sells subsidized facilities through the State Property Fund.
“Really counteract fictitious works and services, which in the times of leskhozes were a common phenomenon. We have abandoned the use of expensive and inefficient financial instruments, which previously often led to the leaching of funds from state forestry enterprises – for example, the lease of equipment at unreasonable rates,” – summarized Bolokhovets.
As reported, the state specialized economic enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” is one of the largest forest users in Europe and the largest in Ukraine. It is under the management of the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine. The company manages 6.6 million hectares of state forest lands.
