Trade

Slovenia-Albania: an economic bridge

Wood processing and market growth

Slovenia has long called wood its green oil. Forests cover 58 per cent of the country - a share exceeded in the EU only by Finland and Sweden - and the annual harvest still runs well below natural increment. The industry built on this resource has grown markedly over the past decade, with domestic processing nearly doubling to some 2.5 million cubic metres, generating close to 2 billion euros in annual revenue, more than half of it abroad.

Yet too much timber still leaves the country as roundwood, and a heavy reliance on the German, Austrian and Italian markets has become a liability amid the Central European construction slump.

Albania presents the mirror image: a fast-growing economy with a construction boom and rising demand for quality building materials and furniture, in which Slovenian wood products have so far played virtually no part.

The forum, organised by ISR, SPIRIT Slovenia, AIDA and Celjski sejem within the MOS Fair, brings together policymakers, trade promotion agencies, financial institutions and companies from both countries to turn that gap into an opening. Its centrepiece is a panel on the investment potential of Slovenia and Albania with a focus on the wood processing industry, pairing Slovenian expertise in higher value-added processing with Albanian market growth and raw material potential.