Effects of Ukraine's log export ban policy on log sales prices of forest enterprises in Turkey

Abstract

The effects on forest enterprises in an importer country have been neglected in debate on log export bans (LEBs). This study aimed to determine the effects of pine LEB decisions made by Ukraine on the auction sales prices of three different coniferous log types at three Turkish forest enterprises. Sales price functions were derived using multiple regressions with data on log sales at auction of 4,565 sales lots of third-class normal-length Austrian pine, Scotch pine, and fir logs included in the 213 sales by auction conducted between 2009 and 2018. In the analysis, the auction sales prices for each log type were used as the dependent variable, while Ukraine's LEB, together with the variables related to the possible marketing mix and environmental factors, was treated as the independent variable. Ukraine's LEB most increased the sales price of fir in the Cerkes enterprise (152.87 TL), while it had a lesser increasing effect on the prices of Scotch pine in the Kizilcahamam enterprise and Austrian pine in the Nallihan enterprise (127.48 TL and 55.21 TL, respectively). Ukraine's pine LEB gives forest enterprises in Turkey the opportunity to find additional financial resources for forest management, albeit at different levels.