Wood pellets from Ukraine

Importing wood pellets from Ukraine step by step

Legal position as of 29 September 2026. Customs and EU rules change, so it is worth confirming the details with a customs agency before the first delivery.

EUDR: what changes on 30 December 2026

The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) covers heading 4401, and therefore also sawdust and wood waste agglomerated into pellets^[62]. The July 2026 amendment kept wood pellets in scope — only waste within the meaning of the Waste Framework Directive and single-use packaging were excluded^[64]. The operators' obligations apply from 30 December 2026. The deferral to 30 June 2027 for natural persons and micro and small enterprises does not apply to products covered by the earlier EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) — and wood pellets are among them^[63],[66].

In practice, the importer — the operator that first places the pellets on the EU market — must, before clearance, gather information on the product and the supplier, including the coordinates of the forest plots where the wood was harvested, and submit a due diligence statement in the EU information system^[62]. Ukraine is on the list of low-risk countries^[65], so the importer does not have to carry out risk assessment or mitigation — unless it has information pointing to a risk, for example circumvention of the sanctions against Russia or Belarus. Pellets made from sawmill residues are not exempt: the geolocation refers to the wood the sawdust came from.

How much wood pellet Poland imports from Ukraine

According to Eurostat, in 2025 Poland imported 254,600 t of wood pellets from Ukraine — 71% of all recorded wood pellet imports into Poland (356,600 t). A year earlier Ukraine's share was 93% (263,600 of 282,300 t), and imports from Ukraine have more than doubled since 2021^[68].

Poland is the largest buyer of Ukrainian wood pellets in the EU: in 2025 it took 62% of EU wood pellet imports from Ukraine (254,600 of 409,800 t)^[68].

Raw material availability

Forests cover 15.9% of Ukraine; total forest land amounts to 10.4 million ha^[59]. Forest cover is thus markedly lower than in Poland, but because of the size of the country the forest area is significant in absolute terms.

For pellet production, what counts is access to residues from sawmills and wood-processing plants and to stemwood — the only raw-material groups permitted in ENplus class A1^[1].

Typical wood species

According to the State Forest Resources Agency, more than 30 tree species grow in Ukrainian forests. It lists pine, oak, beech, spruce, birch, alder, ash, hornbeam and fir as the predominant species^[59]. The raw material may therefore be softwood or hardwood, depending on the region and the plant.

The species on the bag is the producer's declaration. We write more about whether species decides quality in our comparison softwood or hardwood.

The wood industry

Ukraine has its own wood industry and wood pellet producers — the table above shows the scale of exports. We do not give the number of plants or their production capacity, because we have not found them in primary sourcesData require verification: No verified data on the number of producers or production capacity in Ukraine. The ongoing war may affect the continuity of plant operations, the availability of energy, access to some forest areas and transport — to different degrees in different regions and periods.

For the buyer, this means above all less predictability: the same producer may have periods of normal operation and periods of downtime. That is an argument for assessing each batch separately, not against particular plants.

Uptake of certification

Ukraine has no national ENplus licenser — it is not on the list of national partners^[9]. Certified Ukrainian companies have an ENplus number made up of the country prefix and three digits^[5], and their status is checked in the public register using the country filter^[3]. We do not know the proportion of certified production.

For imports from outside the EU, chain-of-custody (Chain of Custody certificate — confirms that wood-based material is tracked at every stage from the forest to the finished product.)Chain of Custody certificate — confirms that wood-based material is tracked at every stage from the forest to the finished product. certificates from FSC and PEFC are particularly useful. They say nothing about fuel parameters, but they document the origin of the raw material at every stage where it changes ownership^[31],[33]. The certificates are checked using the FSC and PEFC search tools^[32],[34].

Logistics and customs clearance

Ukraine borders Poland, but this border is an external border of the European Union. Wood pellets from Ukraine therefore go through customs clearance: the duty is 0%, but VAT is payable, and the declaration requires commercial and transport documents and — because of the import bans on occupied areas — documents showing the place of production^[61]. From 30 December 2026 the EUDR statement number is added to the declaration.

Deliveries go mainly by road — in bulk trade as a full truckload (in trade practice about 22–24 t) — and waiting times at border crossings vary. We do not give transport costs or times. Important: the Polish regulation on quality requirements also covers pellets entered for release for free circulation^[36] — an imported product is subject to the same requirements as a domestic one.

Potential risks

Continuity of supply

The war increases the risk of interruptions to production and transport. For wholesale purchases and seasonal contracts, it is wise to have a plan for delays and not to assume that the next delivery will come from the same batch.

Verifying origin and sanctions

Since 2022, an EU import ban has been in force on wood products (CN chapter 44, which covers wood pellets) originating in or exported from Belarus — under Regulation 2022/355 — and from Russia, under Regulation 2022/576 (the 5th sanctions package)^{[38],[39],[40]}. Separately, ENplus suspended all certified companies from Russia and Belarus with effect from 15 April 2022^[10].

Ukraine is not subject to these restrictions. In any country bordering sanctioned states, however, careful verification that the declared origin matches the actual place of production and source of the raw material becomes more important. This is a standard checkpoint for every importer from the region — not an accusation against any country or company.

Quality and labelling

As in every country, bags carrying the ENplus mark without authorisation do occur. A genuine bag must show, among other things, the name and address of the owner of the bag design matching the register, the quality seal with the ENplus number and a serial number, and stickers and handwritten additions are not allowed^[2].

Why check the specific producer

The country of origin is no guarantee of quality — we assess the specific product, producer and batch. This works both ways: wood pellets from Ukraine are neither worse nor better by default than pellets from the EU. With imports from outside the EU there is an additional layer of documents, so identifying the producer matters even more. Check the plant, the certificate status in the register (a copy of the certificate alone is not proof^[1]), the origin documents and a current test report — ideally on a sample taken from the delivered batch.

More: certificate verification and laboratory testing.