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cal654
Frequent Guest
Joined: 12 Dec 2004
Posts: 16
Location: Canada
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 Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 9:21 pm Post subject: Logging industry |
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I am involved in the logging industry and forestry in Canada. I wondererd if this industry was large in Russia
I have been told that Russia has the largest Norway Spruce stand in the world I am not sure if there is any truth to it though. Any info would be great thanks. |
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wavetossed
WayToRussified
Joined: 27 Jun 2004
Posts: 339
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| Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 12:10 am Post subject: |
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You did realize that Russia is bigger than Canada, didn't you? Of course they have a big timber industry and lots and lots of trees. Similar to Canada, most of the forests are the equivalent of "Crown Land" which means you can go camping, mushroom picking and hiking pretty much anywhere you please. Rather like B.C. or Northern Ontario.
Anyway, if you are interested in data, you might find more here http://www.rbcnews.com/ This site is the Russian equivalent of Bloomberg news so they cover everything to do with business and industry in Russia. If you can read Russian then they also have detailled reports and databases of various industry sectors including timber. |
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sputnik
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 02 Jan 2005
Posts: 141
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| Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 12:33 am Post subject: |
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Compare Russia to Norway: same abundance of natural resources... Same types...
Oil, gas, timber, fish... 
Norway is filthy rich though... |
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cyndy22
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 15 Oct 2004
Posts: 1076
Location: massachusetts
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| Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 1:30 am Post subject: |
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| Is that a fact? |
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sputnik
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 02 Jan 2005
Posts: 141
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| Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 10:47 am Post subject: |
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Norway has a GDP per capita of $40,000, about the same as the USA and well above it's surrouding EU-neighbours, while Russia's, $ 9,800 compares to Malaysia or Chile.
Russia: wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, timber
note: formidable obstacles of climate, terrain, and distance hinder exploitation of natural resources
Norway: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, titanium, pyrites, nickel, fish, timber, hydropower
Comparison is hard to make actually, as there is a significant difference in geographic location. All of Norway is located relatively close to the coast. If you'd pick a worldmap or globe you'd see that all the economically most vital areas on the planet are at the ocean shores, mostly on the northern hemisphere, which has a larger land mass and houses a larger population. |
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wavetossed
WayToRussified
Joined: 27 Jun 2004
Posts: 339
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 11:21 am Post subject: |
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Both those figures are wrong. Norway's currency is the krone and Russia's is the ruble. Therefore the Gross DOMESTIC product of these countries is calculated in their domestic currency and not in dollars as you quoted.
To the people who live in those countries and who earn and spend inside their economies, the difference is not as drastic as the numbers make it seem. Also, the cultures are different. Norway is more of a consumer culture and therefore the people buy more stuff. This doesn't make them better off but it does jack up the GDP figures. Most Russians have not adopted the consumerist outlook on life and therefore they are happier with less spending.
Russia is not a 3rd world country that wants to imitate the west. They took a different path in 1917 and they continue to follow a different path even though they are no longer dominated by the Communist Party. The Russians that are most attracted by consumerism and western culture are also the Russians that are most likely to leave Russia and therefore cease to form a part of the Russian economy and the centre of Russian culture. |
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sputnik
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 02 Jan 2005
Posts: 141
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 12:56 pm Post subject: |
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It is common for economists to calculate gross domestic products in one and the same currency. How else could they be compared.
I am aware of the differences in price levels between Norway and Russia and am certainly not implying Russia is a third-world country here. The Russian level of education and technology are way too high for that.
I agree with you that Russia does not need to dive into our 'great society' of pointless consumerism, but it'd be nice for Russians too if there prices for daily necessities were a bit more stable.
If you would look at the figures, you'd see that the russian economy, in spite of its claim to an economic growth of 6% still depends largely on exploitation of it's natural resources, heavy industries and the like. Services sector is underdeveloped and is hardly invested in (except for Moscow and St P. maybe). Growth of it's economy is too dependend on world-market prices for oil and gas.
The ruble might seem a stable currency over the course of the past few years, compared to the dollar and the euro, but still, it is not a convertable one and it's internal value is under pressure. Russia had a significant inflation in consumer prices this year. |
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e
VIP
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Posts: 654
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 9:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Both those figures are wrong. Norway's currency is the krone and Russia's is the ruble. Therefore the Gross DOMESTIC product of these countries is calculated in their domestic currency and not in dollars as you quoted.
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Sputnik is right. It is standard practice to measure GDP and per capita incomes in dollars because it is (despite its present shortcomings) the world's predominant and most traded curency. Price levels in countreis compared, particulary in Russia and Norway are irrelevant when doing an analysis on local incomes.
| Quote: | | To the people who live in those countries and who earn and spend inside their economies, the difference is not as drastic as the numbers make it seem. Also, the cultures are different. Norway is more of a consumer culture and therefore the people buy more stuff. This doesn't make them better off but it does jack up the GDP figures. Most Russians have not adopted the consumerist outlook on life and therefore they are happier with less spending. |
Russia IS a consumerist society BUT, there isn't much to consume, hence why consumption rates are lower in Russia as opposed to Norway where there are more products to consume. Also as Sputnik mentioned, Russia's services sector is very undeveloped to also non-existant outside of the major cities which also plays a major role in consumerism. Because of this situation, most consumer products are imported in making them expensive and therefore out of reach to the average Russian consumer, while Norwegians can actually afford to purchase imported goods.
Russia can't be a third world country because of its huge economy nontheless. Its still a trillion dollar economy. |
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vettra
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 24 Dec 2004
Posts: 123
Location: Cleveland
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| Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:43 am Post subject: |
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| I'm curious what is a "consumerist society"? Would China be a producer country? They still consume - for example China used 55% of the world's concrete last year. Inflation seems to be spiking on and off the past few years - was it 2003 that real-estate prices spiked upward? Of course inflation correlates with wages, and I know engineering wages have been rising dramaticallly (what about the other sectors?). This puts the lower classes in a real squeeze, their wages don't keep up with inflation. America's pending inflation will be due to vastly different reasons: falling exchange rate, debt, insufficient GDP. |
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init6
WayToRussified
Joined: 01 Jun 2005
Posts: 363
Location: Москва, Россия
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| Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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China is a tough nut to crack. It's urban classes are most definitely consumerists but the poor peasants in the provinces are basically eking out a medieval lifestyle and would not be classified as such. China illegal manipulates its currency to keep the value low so exports are flowing out like mad (and at an unsustainable pace, IMO). China also trucks in a bunch of rubes from the countryside, confiscates their internal passports so they can't leave, and forces them to work in sweatshops to produce these cheap export goods that are sold in everyone's favorite Wal-Mart.
China is bad news.
Furthermore, if Norway's GDPPC is above US$40,000 (which it likely is) then they are beating out the US by a good bit (~$36,000). GDPPC is NOT median income, though! GDPPC is nothing more than dividing the GDP by the population. If there was true income equality, it would be that number, but no nation on Earth is like that, and never has been. Norway is also rated by the UN as having the highest quality of life on the planet. |
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