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Silva Balcanica, 14(1)/2013

NON-WOOD FOREST PRODUCTS IN BULGARIA

Maria Stoyanova Forest Research Institute – SofiaBulgarian Academy of Sciences

Nickola Stoyanov University of Forestry – Sofia

Abstract

In the work are discussed Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFP) in Bulgaria and their participation in the economy of the country. A review of the reported amounts of NWFP from the forest department during the past 10 years is made and were fol-lowed trade flows by statistic information from the United Nations (UN Comtrade) and Bulgaria’s participation in them. Over the years different NWFP had different priority, depending on the needs of society and of individual consumers.

In the work NWFP are divided into four groups: Food and medicinal products; Raw materials for industrial processing; Fodder, grazing and beekeeping; and Others.

During the last years were collected and traded nuts, berries, rosehips, lime blos-som, herbs and barks. Bulgaria ranks eighth among exporters of herbs with the average quantity exported in 2003-2006 from 10 350 t and 9213 t in 2007-2011. An export of herbs from Bulgaria is pointed to more than 50 countries of the world. European Union countries buy about 88% of them. The most important non-European country in which Bulgaria exported herbs are USA and the most important destination of herbs export for Bulgaria is Germany (about 50% to two-thirds). Besides herbs, the objects of international trade are nuts, lime blossom, European smoke-tree, etc.

Bulgaria is among the leading countries in the export of fresh mushrooms in Eastern Europe and is third/fourth place after Romania, Serbia and Greece. Wild mushrooms occupy an important place in the country’s export list.

Production and trading of balsamic resin, kindling and vegetable tannins de-crease. Among NWFP collected from forest areas, with economic importance are: medicinal plants, berries, lime blossom, bark, wild mushrooms, etc. It is noted that in the production of Christmas trees, ornamental plants, vegetable tannins and honey also has an interest.

The brief overview and analysis of trade in NWFP in domestic and interna-tional market makes it possible to conclude that these products are essential to the economy and livelihood of the majority of the Bulgarian population.

Key words: Non-wood forest products (NWFP), harmonized description and coding system catalog (HS)

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INTRODUCTION

Non-wood forest products (NWFP) are some of the oldest objects of trade in the world and play an important role in the economy of many countries. World Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 1999) gives the following definition of NWFP: ‘Products of biological origin other than wood, derived from forests, other wooded land and trees outside forests.’ In our country to the NWFP are subsumed extraction of resin, kindling, hay, bark, bast, seeds, mushrooms, medicinal and aromatic plants or parts thereof, lichens and mosses, berries, greenery, Christmas trees, fodder and animals, which are not wild game (Forest Act – State Gazette No. 19/8.03.2011).

NWFP are very diverse in form and structure, and the knowledge of forest owners is essential for sustainable use and comprehensive utilization of all raw ma-terials from the forest (Stoyanova, Stoyanov, 2007). Their advantage is that most of them do not require large capital investments and the organization of this activity is affordable for any owner or association of owners.

The aim of this work is to address the variety of benefits from forests than timber and the possibilities for harvesting, processing and sale of Non-Wood Forest Products. Regulating the use and protection of these resources is important for the development of mountain and hilly areas, protection from over-exploitation, reduc-tion of stocks and protection of biodiversity.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In order to analyze the production and marketing of NWFP data from the annual reports of the Ministry of Agriculture and Foods (MAF) and from the Ex-ecutive Forests Agency (EFA), by the National Statistical Institute (NSI), sta-tistics from the United Nations (UN Comtrade), and other sources of information (research investigations, publications of FAO etc.) were used. To determine NWFP included in international trade flows, classification (harmonized description and coding system catalog (HS)), adopted by the United Nations Statistics (Vantomme, 2001) was used.

The statistic data were processed by the methods of comparative analysis.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

A variety of NWFP in different regions leads to difficulties in the definition and classification worldwide. Based on market research, studies of international products, economics and trade statistical classifications (ISIC, Rev. 3, 1990; SITC, Rev. 3, 1981; HS, 1987; CPC, 1991; SNA, 1993) (Mohammad Iqbal, 1993) and after several meet-ings and conferences of FAO a classification was proposed, which is included in the international harmonized commodity description and coding system (HS).

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There are determined 17 groups of NWFP (Iqbal, 1993), traded on the interna-tional market, and in which are included a large number of specific products, derived from forests and forest areas – food, spices, industrial oils, plant mucilage, natural pigments, resins, fibers and silk, vegetable tannins, latex, insect products, aromatic wood, essential oils, herbal insecticides, medicinal plants, animals and animal prod-ucts, miscellaneous (Stoyanov et al., 2011).

In the research investigations and in the practice in Bulgaria, NWFP are grouped as follows (Stoyanova, 2011):

1. Food and medicinal products: berries, medicinal herbs and mushrooms;2. Raw materials for industrial processing: Resin, kindling, vegetable tannin

materials, essential oils etc.;3. Fodder and grazing, hay, fodder from different tree species (tree branches

with leaves), forest seeds, etc. Beekeeping in the forest – pasture of bees and estab-lishing plantations for beekeeping.

4. Others – bast, cork, Christmas trees, etc.In the first group ‘Food and medicinal products’ we refer berries, medicinal

plants and mushrooms. Bulgaria has traditions in their use. Hardalova et al. (1994) reported that the use of resources of medicinal and forest plants in Bulgaria to pro-duce industrial quantities of raw materials began after World War I, mainly due to demand from Germany. After 1930 this activity developed increasingly as the main factor that influences the dynamics (number, type and quantities) is the export of herbal medicinal raw materials. The data on the quantities exported – in 1934 – 8244 kg and in 1939 to 721 000 kg or 87 times more.

In statistics of forests for NWFP such as individual groups are given berries, lime blossom, rose-hips and barks, and all other medicinal plants are included in a single group – herbs (Stoyanov, Stoyanova, 2005).

Quantities of medicinal plants and berries reported by the EFA in recent years are shown in Table 1.

In Table 1 are shown the quantities of berries and herbs, harvested from forest areas in the period 2001-2011, for which fees are collected according to the Forest Act. Their amounts vary from year to year, which is associated with fruition, the status of the habitats, the dynamics of climate impacts, the organization of the work and demand in the domestic and international markets.

Kostov et al. (1976) reported that during the period from 1961 to 1970 were collected from 6855 t to 8222 t herbs and from 1336 to 3249 t berries. Data from Table 1 shows that from 2001 to 2011 the reported amounts of herbs and fruits are reduced, especially in the period 2007-2009 (Bulgaria joining EU and abolition of the authorization scheme for export to EU countries), which led to decrease of the applications for permits for the harvesting of non-wood forest products and the fees paid for their use.

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Table 1. Berries and herbs in the system of EFA for the period 2001-2011

Year

Tons – t

Nuts(Walnut, hazel-nut and others)

Berries(Blueberries, blackberries,

raspberries, sloes, wild strawberry and others)

Rose-hips

Lime Blos-som

Herbs Barks

2001 14.4 1452.7 500.0 809.1 3442.3 88.62002 10.3 1618.9 398.3 267.6 8022.9 23.72003 12.7 2025.8 240.3 427.4 6699.8 3.32004 8.8 1278.1 291.5 440.4 5168.8 2.72005 20.1 1849.1 303.2 471.4 4520.7 27.92006 22.3 2747.7 401.4 566.5 4430.3 47.52007 14.6 826.7 186.4 626.7 837.4 10.32008 2.9 208.2 149.0 569.8 736.1 16.52009 9.1 348.2 74.5 182.0 489.6 130.22010 20.0 664.6 117.1 271.6 749.8 97.42011 24.9 427.7 83.0 268.7 534.8 54.7

Source: Annual reports, EFA, 2001-2011

Lime blossom and rose-hips are one of the most sought in the international mar-ket and in our country. In the period 1985-1987 there were collected between 357.9 and 435.8 t of lime blossom from forest areas, but in recent years its quantity varies in a wide range – from 182.0 to 809.1 t, or 445.6 t average annually, which is indicative of ongoing interest toward this raw material. The same goes for the rose-hips, which amounts for that period ranged from 74.5 to 500.0 t, or 249.5 t average annually.

The amount of harvested bark during the period ranged from 2.7 to 130.2 t, as the maximum being reached in 2009. For the last year of the period were collected 54.7 t, while the average annual amount for the period was 45.7 t. This range of variation of quantities of the bark is probably due to changes in supply and the unassured sales contracts. Moreover, the new Forest Act (2011) prohibits the harvesting of barks from standing trees and requires that harvesting to be foreseen in forest management plan, which also is a cause for the reduction of the amount of harvested bark.

From the berries – with the greatest participation are blackberries and sloes, respectively 32 and 28%, followed by blueberries (19%) and raspberries (3%). The remaining 18% represent other fruits.

The share of nuts, including walnuts produced from forest areas is very small (Table 1), despite the considerable area of walnut plantations – 7406 ha (Report For-est Fund (FF) – 2005) and 7201 ha (Report FF – 2010). The average yield varies, varying in the range of 2.9 to 24.9 t-average 14.6 t.

The purpose of participation in international trade is to reach a higher market

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value of the products compared to local and national markets. Harvesting of NWFP in most regions of the world is most prevalent in less developed countries, where they are the main livelihood of the local population and are exported as raw materi-als, but recently increase the exports of processed NWFP in countries with great economic potential. In recent years, the share of NWFP in the total value of trade increased significantly (Table 2).

The data in the Table shows that the total global market of NWFP increase and the largest increase is in the nuts and medicinal plants. We should note that the statistics do not indicate how many of them are harvested from natural habitats and how are the quantities harvested from cultivated plants.

Table 2. Value of exports of the most important non-wood forest products in the world

Non Wood Forest Products 1992 2002 2011USD million

Medicinal plants 689.9 778.0 2069.0Nuts 593.1 3394.0 11 078.0Roots Ginseng 389.3 221.4 362.0Cork and cork products 328.8 1401.0 1970.0Essential oils 312.5 533.5 1490.0

Sourse: FAO, 1993, 2003.

Bulgaria participates in international trade in NWFP, and for some of them, such as medicinal plants, it is among the leading countries in the world.

In Table 3 and 4 are showed data on import and export of medicinal plants of the leading countries in the world for the period 2003-2011.

From the data in the tables it is clear that major exporters of medicinal plants are China, Germany, India, Poland, Mexico, Hong Kong, USA and Egypt. And the predominant imports in the USA, Germany, Japan, France, Singapore, Hong Kong and others. As it can be seen, Bulgaria ranks eighth among exporters of herbs with the average quantity exported in 2003-2006 from 10 350 t and 9213 t in 2007-2011. During the period 1991-2000 Bulgaria was at ninth place with 10 050 t (Kathe et al., 2003).

Quantities exported herbs from five leading countries from Eastern and South-eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, for the period 2001-2011, are shown in Table 5 and Fig. 1.

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Table 3. Average quantity of imported medicinal plants and its value for the leading countries in the world for the period 2003 - 2011

Importing country2003–2006 г. 2007–2011 г.

Quantity, t Value USD Quantity, t Value USDUSA 49 184 (1)* 158 453 280 (1) 63 550 (1) 248 094 875 (1)Germany 46 182 (2) 113 391 250 (2) 51 659 (3) 179 813 062 (2)Hong Kong 40 887 (3) 47 439 820 (5) 51 878 (2) 71 931 411 (6)Japan 25 921 (4) 93 686 102 (3) 27 647 (4) 142 638 363 (3)France 19 066 (5) 56 083 102 (4) 17 554 (5) 82 499 401 (4)Italy 11 977 (6) 44 469 395 (7) 12 060 (6) 59 718 107 (7)UK 9 395 (7) 46 248 487 (6) 8 547 (9) 55 249 009 (9)Canada 6 848 (8) 40 779 255 (9) 9 914 (8) 58 669 953 (8)Singapore 6 510 (9) 41 920 040 (8) 12 052 (7) 80 177 153 (5)Bulgaria 463 1 084 751 767 1 829 544

* Figures in parentheses indicate a place that takes the country in the ranking.Source: www.comtrade.un.org/db/

Table 4. Average quantity of exported medicinal plants and its value for the leading countries in the world for the period 2003-2011

Exporting country Quantity, t Value, USD Quantity, t Value, USD2003 -2006 г. 2007 – 2011 г.

China 180 977 (1)* 226 146 370 (1) 208 408(1) 484 075 552 (1)India 44 540 (2) 50 389 855 (6) 48 438 (2) 113 491 845 (2)Mexico 34 996 (3) 32 966 567 (9) 30 381 (3) 41 166 882 (9)Hong Kong 17 424 (4) 56 359 747 (4) 9 777 (7) 51 363 504 (6)Germany 17 344 (5) 82 332 250 (2) 18 566 (4) 120 694 890 (3)Poland 14 866 (6) 38 967 465 (7) 16 506 (5) 62 060 468 (5)USA 13 527 (7) 55 963 275 (5) 13 039 (6) 74 772 802 (4)Bulgaria 10 350 (8) 18 005 811 (10) 9 213 (8) 24 172 697 (10)France 10 108 (9) 56 388 357 (3) 6 731 (9) 48 576 585 (7)Singapore 2 237 (10) 33 658 495 (8) 2 550 (10) 47 535 945 (8)

* Figures in parentheses indicate a place that takes the country in the ranking.Source: www.comtrade.un.org/db/

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Table 5. Volumes of exported medicinal plants (t) from the five leading countries in exports from Eastern and Southeastern Europe for the period 2001-2011

Exporting country 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Poland 10 639 13 032 14 470 15 284 18 616 11 092 17 861 18 079 16 291 16 655 14 281Bulgaria* 9 856 10 937 12 294 9 343 9 801 9 961 9 217 8 366 7 690 10 695 10 098Albania 8 453 9 008 8 487 7 027 7 335 7 908 8 095 8 176 4 855 5 565 7 710Hungary 2 529 2 814 3 013 3 222 1 924 1 441 N/A N/A 1 604 1 581 1 920Turkey 2 380 2 453 2 769 2 752 3 207 1 643 3 001 3 331 3 587 3 674 3 636

Source: www.comtrade.un.org/db/

Fig.1. Volumes of exported medicinal plants (t) from the five leading countries in exports from Eastern and Southeastern Europe for the period 2001-2011

* In the shown amounts in the table are included the total quantities, exported from forest areas, agri-cultural land and cultivated medicinal plants.

During the period 2001–2006, Bulgaria ranks second after Poland with an average amount of 10 365 t. According to Kathe et al. (2003) in 1991-2000 Bulgaria occupies the leading first place among all countries of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe with exports of 10 050 t, followed by Albania with 7650 t and Poland – with 6330 t. During the period 2007-2011, Bulgaria does not change its place in the rank-ings, but in the period 2007 - 2009, there was a decrease in exports and the increasing in the amount of herbs exported in the recent years is relatively smaller, compared with Poland, occupying the first place.

Exports of herbs from Bulgaria is pointed to more than 50 countries of the world prevailed by European Union countries, who buy about 88% of the herbs, exported from Bulgaria. The remaining 12% is exported to some Eastern and South-Eastern European countries. The non-European countries in which Bulgaria exported herbs, are small in number and the most important of them is the USA with an aver-age volume of about 300-350 t. Generally about 50% to two-thirds of the exports of herbs from Bulgaria focuses on Germany, which is the most important destination (Kathe et al., 2003). These data are confirmed for the period 2007-2011 as well.

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For the last ten years from forest areas were collected from 489.6 to 8022.9 or average 3239.3 t herbs according to the statistics of EFA. From comparison with the date from the UN Comtrade become clear that about half of the exported herbs are collected from the forest areas. Export prices according to international statistics (Comtrade) for the period 2001-2011 ranged from 1082 USD/t to 3056 USD/t on an upward trend until 2007, except for 2002, but from 2008 started a trend for reduction and increased again in 2011 (Table 6). As is clear from the data, the average price of the herbs in the international markets, although quite variable, allows to obtain stable revenues from export.

Table 6. Average price of exported from Bulgaria herbs (USD/t)

Years 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011Average price 1152 1082 1483 1701 1716 2103 3056 2822 2476 2240 2583

% 100.0 93.9 128.7 147.7 149.0 182.6 265.3 245.0 214.9 194.4 224.2

Source: www.comtrade.un.org/db/

Besides herbs, the objects of international trade are nuts, lime blossom and European smoketree (Cotinus coggygria Scop.). The basic quantities of exported nuts are harvested from agricultural lands and are aimed to markets in Turkey, Italy, Greece and others. Average prices of walnuts in shell, lime blossom and European smoketree in the internal market are shown in Table 7. The average price of lime blossom in recent years varies from 5.29 to 7.74 BGN/kg, and the price of C. cog-gygria have increased 2.5 times.

Table 7. Average prices of walnut, lime blossom and European smoketree for the period 2007 – 2011

Products 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011Lime blossom – BGN/kg 5.51 7.74 6.94 5.29 5.71

European smoketree -BGN/kg 1.00 1.48 1.78 1.45 2.50Walnuts in shell BGN/t 1615.20 1541.98 1380.66 1456.67 1817.82

Sourse: National Statistic Institute

Appropriate climate in our country – the rainfall and soil conditions determine the rich variety of mushrooms in forests. From occurring edible mushrooms in our country of practical interest are 20 species, of which most often collected and have a commercial value are about 10 species. In Table 8 are shown the quantities of mush-rooms collected in the period 2000 - 2011.

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Table 8. Amount of collected wild mushrooms

Years 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011Quantity, t 2834 7410 3825 5101 7937 4822 573 155 541 376 185

The above data show a significant variation in the quantity of collected mushrooms. In the period 2001 - 2011 were obtained from 155 to 7410 t, or an an-nual average for the period – 3069.8 t. Here, as in berries and herbs dropping the permits for the export regime reduces the fees paid for their harvesting. The yield of mushrooms is highly dependent on their biological characteristics, the dynam-ics of the environmental factors of the environment over the years and from work organization.

Bulgaria participated actively in the international market of mushrooms. Depending on the average volume of exported quantities of fresh mushrooms, Eastern-European countries for the period 2002-2010, have arranged as follows (Table 9).

Table 9. Average minimum and maximum volume (in t) of exports of fresh mushroomsfrom Eastern-European countries for the period 2002 - 2011

Exporting country Minimum and maximumquantity in t, for period 2002–

2006

Minimum and maximumquantity in t, for period 2007–

2011Romania 2140 – 3891 1691 – 3381Serbia 1260 – 1813 627 – 1 190Bulgaria 922 – 2 671 1060 – 1876Turkey 333 – 1231 401 – 1054Slovakia 313 – 716 1 – 14Croatia 96 – 841 68 – 294Bosnia and Herzegovina 46 – 732 141 – 646Slovenia 47 – 628 140 – 399FYR Macedonia 167 – 943 426 – 697Greece 17 – 315 346 – 2858

Source: www.comtrade.un.org/db/

The data show that Bulgaria is among the leading countries in the export of fresh mushrooms in Eastern Europe and is the third – fourth place after Romania, Serbia and Greece. In Table 10 and 11 are showed the quantities of mushrooms ex-ported from Bulgaria and their average prices for the period 2001–2005.

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Table 10. Volumes of exported mushrooms from Bulgaria

Products 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005tons

Fresh 703 1805 * 1653.2 2664.0Incl. wild growing * 1802 923 1649.4 2663.3Frozen 1215 1011 668 303.7 1590.7Incl. wild growing 1215 1011 667 275 1557.9Provisionally preserved 120 321 424 404.4 672.4Incl. wild growing 90 275 421 400.1 668Dried (incl. wild growing) 205 549 315 320.3 437.3

Source: MAF, 2005.

Table 11. Average prices of exported mushrooms from Bulgaria in USD/t

Products 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005USD/t

FreshIncl. wild growing 5708.22 4354.55 9 716.01 7 646.80 5 760.79Frozen Incl. wild growing 3702.92 3402.28 4 381.54 5 273.64 5 463.47Provisionally preservedIncl. wild growing 3285.96 1 702.02 2 357.34 2 657.04 2 717.59Dried (incl. wild growing) 27 676.43 15 787.31 19 641.01 30 700.22 26 141.10

Source: Annual Reports of MAF, 2001-2006.

During the period 2001-2005, in the volume of exported fresh wild mush-rooms prevail wild growing. Primary users are the EU countries (over 90% of total exports). In 2002, the largest quantities are exported to Italy, France and Germany, and in 2004 the ranking of countries according to the volume of exports from Bul-garia is: Italy, Germany, France and Austria.

The average price of exported fresh mushrooms varying from 4354.55 to 9716.01 USD / t. The average selling price of porcini which is highest, is moving in the range from 6122 to 9282 USD / t, depending on the quality.

Exports of frozen wild mushrooms vary widely – from 275 t in 2004 to 1557.9 t in 2005. About 90% of total exports were carried to EU markets. The ar-rangement according to the quantities of exported frozen wild mushrooms is: Italy, France, Spain and Switzerland.

The average selling price tends to increase after 2002 – from 3402.28 to 5463.47 USD / t.

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Provisionally preserved mushrooms are well accepted in international mar-kets. Quantity and currency returns over the period tend to increase. At the same time, the average selling price decreased significantly in 2002, after which there is a trend of steady rise – from 1702.02 to 2717.59 USD / t.

Export of provisionally preserved mushrooms over the years carried out in different countries – in 2002 entirely to the EU, and in 2004 – mainly for FYR Mace-donia and trace amounts to Italy and Austria.

Exports of dried wild mushrooms in the period 2001 - 2005 was characterized by fluctuations in volume from 205 to 549 t and is intended primarily for the EU. Traditional markets are Italy, France and Germany. The average price of dried mush-rooms is higher and varies in large range – from 15 787.31 to 30 700.22 USD / t.

Export of mushrooms is quite variable and depends on climatic conditions, production volume and from domestic and international prices for the year. The share of wild mushrooms in the total exports of various products (fresh, frozen, pro-visionally preserved and dried mushrooms) is high, i.e. wild mushrooms occupy an important place in the country’s export list.

The most important for the international trade in Bulgaria are the following types of mushrooms: Porcini, Chanterelle, Saffron milky cap , Slippery Jack, False morel, Charbonnier, St. George’s mushroom, Common morel etc.

In recent years there has been a clear trend of increasingly wider uptake of medicinal plants and forest plants and mushrooms in the life of people and prefer-ences are to the natural habitats of ecological forest areas, which is an incentive for greater organization of this activity. Availability of suitable lands in forest areas for cultivation of some medicinal and forest fruit plants will increase the raw material base and increasing employment of the population in mountainous and hilly areas of the country.

To the second group of NWFP – ‘Raw materials for industrial processing’ refer-balsamic resin, kindling, essential oils etc.

The collecting of balsamic resin is a form of use during the life of conifer stands for the production of resin. It is one of the oldest activities of the use of bio-logical resources of the forest. The first factory for the processing of resin in the country was opened in 1934, after then began the expansion of this activity. From 5 t annual production in early production of resin in 1937 it reached up to 3 250 t in the mid-seventies, and then gradually decreased to almost completely faded now. In our country the resin is collected from Scots pine, Austrian pine, Macedonian pine and Spruce.

Unattractiveness manual labor, the lack of qualified labor, labor-intensive nature of this work and small opportunities for its mechanization, as well as depleted stocks of mature trees and the changes in the economy in recent years have adversely affected the production and marketing of resin. Raw material base (Scots pine, Aus-trian pine, Macedonian pine and Spruce) allows of course the collection of resin to continue under assured realization of raw material (Stoyanova, 2011).

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The current forest legislation before 1997 envisaged balsamic resin collection to carry out in coniferous forests, in which are predicted restorative fellings, accord-ing to forestry plans and programs and prohibited the felling of marked trees before collection of resin (Stoyanova et al., 2002).

The new Forest Act (SG 19/2011) prohibits the collection of balsamic resin from standing trees, except where provided for in the forest management plan. In the now elaborated and active forest management plans and programs do not provide collecting of resin and for incorporate this activity into future plans will lose up to 10 years depending on the time they have made earlier. This will delay the revival of collection of resin and to lead to loss for forest owners. It is neces-sary at the wish of owners and assured sale of the product to find a way to conduct this activity, and in the future forest management plans to include it again. Un-der the new market conditions, the ambition to receive additional income from coniferous forests and availability of free labor force should encourage owners to renew this activity. Each owner can conduct self collection of resin, to associ-ate with other owners or to give the stands for collection of resin to other users negotiable(Stoyanov et al., 2011).

Globally, for the period 2007 - 2011 the value of exports of resin vary from 238 to 402 million USD (UN Comtrade) and the main five exporters are Nigeria, France, Sudan, England and the USA, and Bulgaria participated with modest 200 to 1170 kg with value between 1198 and 7113 USD. As data showed – in Bulgaria can be collected significant amounts of resin that are looked to the international market and can provide additional income to forest owners in the coniferous region.

Kindling is highly pitched wood, used for the production of extraction rosin, extraction turpentine oil, flotation oil or for domestic use as firewood for stoves and fireplaces.

The yield of kindling is carrying out in the forests, in which was accomplished regeneration felling. Most often kindling was produced when there is a market for industrial processing.

In our country kindling is harvested for a short period from coniferous spe-cies containing core wood like Scots pine, Austrian pine and Macedonian pine. This activity is carried out in the years 1960-1970 in a volume of 11 901 to 16 644 t. The kindling was harvested when there was a demand for industrial processing, but this work is very labor intensive and often uneconomical and is now completely discon-tinued. In recent years, demand for kindling increase for domestic use as firewood for stoves and fireplaces.

Twigs includes needles and leaves of tree and shrub species with small sprays with thickness up to 8 mm. Besides the direct use of tree foliage as feed for livestock, it can also be utilized for the production of essential oils, vitaminous coniferous flour, chlorophyll-carotene pasta etc. For this purpose are used mostly twigs from Scots pine, Austrian pine, Spruce, Juniper and Fir. If there is sufficient quality mate-rial essential oils are obtained from Douglas Fir, Macedonian Pine and Bosnian Pine.

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In the reports of the Executive Forestry Agency no data on the amount of technical greenery harvested in forests in recent years. In the Tariff of fees for the non wood forest products harvested from state forests, indicated that 1 t technical greenery will be charged 2 BGN.

Twigs is widely used in floriculture and for ornamental purposes. In our coun-try, such use is not yet found enough distribution, both domestically and for export to other countries.

In the forests in the country for the production of plant tanning materials are used oak, spruce and willow bark, oak and chestnut wood and leaves of Cotinus coggygria Scop.. Exports of plant tanning materials is amended in very large limits for the period 2007 - 2011 – from 105 to 6482 kg.

The third group NWFP include: Hay, fodder from tree species, forest seeds, honey and others. As recovery operations of NWFP here seen grazing of ani-mals and beekeeping in the forest.

From forestry perspective harvesting hay is the most acceptable way of us-ing the grass when it comes to forest glades and meadows. In the forest, harvesting of hay must be done very carefully, while respecting the preservation of existing undergrowth. Suitable for collection of hay are non-renewable fire places and clear-ings. In statistics of forests in recent years wouldn’t give data for harvesting of hay in forest areas.

Fruits and seeds, which are of interest as forage, are acorns of oak and beech. They may be used in fresh and dried condition for feeding domestic live-stock. With its rich content of protein and fat fruits and seeds of Gleditsia and black locust are raw material for production of animal feed. Collection can be made from fallen trees after felling or from standing trees. Gleditsia pods can be collected after their falling in winter. Quantity of seed harvested in different years varies widely from 7.1 to 155.8 t, which is largely due to the different fruit abun-dance over the years especially the oaks and beech whose fruitful years are in some years (Table 12). Fruits and seeds are also subject to international trade and our country could in future be more involved in it.

The use of branches and leaves is still practiced form to provide roughage for livestock during the winter. Branches and leaves feed is prepared mainly from different oak species, but are also suitable hornbeam, black locust, poplar, aspen, willow, linden, ash, maple and others. Most of the forest is harmless when it is ob-tained by combining the keeping of felling. From the data in Table 12 shows that in recent years no data for harvesting branches and leaves feed and the quantities from 1997 to 2001 have reached 90 931 m3.

The latter group of NWFP in our country include raffia (bast), cork, Christ-mas trees etc.

Extraction of raffia (bast). From the locally growing tree species with the most highly developed bast tissue features is lime peel. Bast from it has better strength and is relatively resistant to decay. It can be used to make mats, bags, and

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other knitwear, for tie-in viticulture and horticulture. Despite the many lime stands, production and use of bast in our country have no tradition – it is produced only in a short period of time after which this activity fading (Table 13).

Table 12. Table for the harvested quantities of hay, leaves feed and seeds

Years 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011Hay, t 6486 25778 6599 3110 8105 7950 * * * * *Forest seeds, t 62.3 10.9 7.1 155.8 40.2 5.86 8.28 1.02 3.73 7.38 0.595

Branches and leaves feed, m3

25 794 * * * * * * * * * *

Source: Annual reports EFA, 2001-2011

Table 13. Production of lime bast

Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001Linden bast,t 19.5 25.0 30.9 34.0 86.6

Extraction of cork. Cork in the trees species is forming from cork cambium and has a different thickness and structure. It’s cells are strongly inhibited by sub-eric material and therefore die quickly. As thick cork layer is deposited on cork oak (Quercus suber L.). It boasts with some valuable qualities such as low density, dura-bility and elasticity, gase and waterproof and good thermal insulation and decorative ability, and therefore it found various applications. The first cork that forms naturally on the stem is called primary (male) cork. Established plantations of cork oak in the southern parts of the country show that the country is capable of producing this com-modity by the owners of such forests. For now, the statistics of forest omitted data for harvesting cork for industrial purposes.

Other uses of the waste bark– Obtaining of heat by mixing with the primary fuel or briquetted and burns

itself;– Production of building materials such as fibrolite, fiber boards, sound-, warm

proofing and decorative plates;– Fertilization. The most widely used is the preparation of compost from bark

due to its diverse chemical composition and good humus formation capacity. The bark is rich in carbon, potassium and calcium but it is relatively poor in nitrogen and phosphorus. As a technology for composting bark than fragmentation of the particles of 2-3 mm size are included the addition of mineral substances containing nitrogen and phosphorus;

– Mulch. Natural porosity, high moisture capacity and good thermal physical

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properties make suitable crop bark mulch, which can successfully be used in for-estry, horticulture and flower production.

Production of Christmas trees and ornamental plantsAccording to the EFA (Table 14) the quantity of trees harvested for Christmas

trees in recent years has fluctuated between 17 789 units in 2011 to 69 330 units in 2002, which indicates that our forests there are opportunities to expand this business. Production of decorative trees (Table 14) in the period from 2005 to 2011 varies in the range of 16 091 units to 73 061 units. The possibilities are too large to meet the domestic and export quality materials for afforestation and landscaping.

Table 14. Harvested Christmas trees and decorative trees for the period 2001-2010

Year 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011Christ-mas trees, number

37 641 69 330 38 892 51 403 42 992 45 913 36 613 33 413 20 611 21 617 17 789

Deco-rative sap-lings issue.

* * * * 37 264 16 091 57 205 47 330 27 154 73 061 39 193

Source: Annual reports EFA, 2001-2011

In the recent years the volume of NWFP, collected, processed and sold in the territory of forests in the country, according to the NFA and EFA is too volatile – ris-ing to 2007, then after 2008 – decreases. The same trend is observed in revenue from tariff fees. Reducing the quantities produced NWFP and tariff fees from them due to the fact that after the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union (EU) companies trading with EU countries do not need a permition, which is why most of them do not pay tariff fees for the collection of NWFP from woodlands (Stoyanov N., V. Pi-ralkov, M.Stoyanova at all.2011).

As seen in the analysis of the data for collected from forest areas NWFP eco-nomic importance are: herbs, wild mushrooms, berries (rosehips, blackberries, sloes, nuts), lime blossom, bark and more.

CONCLUSION

A review and analysis of the use and trade of NWFP shows that over the years different priority had different NWFP, depending on the needs of society and of in-dividual consumers. Under the new market conditions, the interests of each owner impose rational and wise use of the forest resources to obtain maximum benefit and income.

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For the implementation of sustainable management, reproduction and increase the resources of non wood forest products is necessary to update existing or start building new facilities to manage, protect, use, storage and processing of non wood forest resources.

In the development of forest plans and programs need to be paid attention to the NWFP and provide measures in their inventory with aim of rational and no ex-hausting use, restoration and preservation.

From an economic perspective, the organized use of NWFP will lead to in-creased employment of the population in mountainous and hilly areas and increase income per unit of forest area. To improve conditions for the management, conserva-tion and use of non wood forest resources, forest department is required to imple-ment and introduce eco-label certification for organic production.

It is necessary to develop and implement a market information system for forest products demand, which will be of assistance to forest owners in organizing usage.

A decisive factor for the development of this activity is to enhance the quali-fications of staff.

The brief overview and analysis of trade in non wood forest products in do-mestic and international market makes it possible to conclude that these products are essential to the economy and livelihood of the majority of the population. It is the forest owners to show more initiative and independence to be able to take more advantage of the benefits that can be obtained in the organization of production, pro-cessing and marketing of non-wood forest products.

In conclusion, we point out that the use of non wood forest products, what-ever property they are – state, municipal or private, should be organized so as to not damage ecosystems and biodiversity in them and not to the detriment of the main production functions of the forest.

REFERENCES

Annual reports of the Executive Agency of Forests, 1997-2011. (In Bulgarian).FAO, 1999, Forestry Department , Towards a harmonized definition of non wood forest products. In:

Non-Wood Forest Products and Income Generation. http://www.fao.org/docrep/x2450e/x2450e0d.htm

Hardalova, R., L. Evstatieva, Ch. Gusev. 1994. Characteristics of resources from wild medicinal plants in Bulgaria and recommendations for their long-term sustainable development. – In: National strat-egy for conservation of biological diversity (In Bulgarian) P. 41-72.

Kathe W., Honnef S. & Heym A., 2003, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Albania, Bosnia-Herzego-vina, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, WWF Deutschland / TRAFFIC Europe-Germany.

Kostov, P., I. Zhelev, P. Belyakov, St. Angelov, Kr. Kaludin, K. Tashkov, P. Pashkov, P. Nasalevska. 1976. Status of forest resources in Bulgaria and considerations for their complex use. S., Zemizdat. P. 118. (In Bulgarian).

Law of Forests (State gazette, 125/29.12.1997, changes, 79/10.07.1998, 133/11.11.1998, 26/23.03.1999, 29/ 07.04.2000,) (In Bulgarian).

Law of Forests St. G.19 /8.03.2011) (In Bulgarian)

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Mohammad Iqbal.1993. International trade in non-wood forest products: An overview by Mohammad Iqbal, FO: Misc/93/11 - Working Paper, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.

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12(1), p.25-35. ISSN 1311-8706Stoyanova M., N.Stoyanov.2007. Laws and regulations relating to conservation, trade and use of non

wood forest products in Bulgaria. In IUFRO Division 6: Research Group 6.13.00: Forest Law and Environmental Legislation International Symposium, Armenia.

Stoyanova M., Stoyanov N., P. Hadjiev. 2002. Forest and Enviromental Legislation and Protection of Biodiversity of Medicinal Plants in the Forests of Bulgaria. In: Experiences with New Forest and Environmental Laws in European Countries with Economies in Transition, Zurich.61- 67.

Stoyanov N., Stoyanova M., 2005. Forest and Forest Products . Country Profile Rebublic of Bulgaria. In Timber Section, Trade Division UNECE, Geneva. Geneva Timber and Forest Discussion Paper 38, UN, Geneva.

Stoyanov N., V. Piralkov, M.Stoyanova at all.2011. Entrepreneurship in the utilization of non-wood forest products. P 152. ISBN: 978-954-02910-13-8

Vantomme P., 2001, Trade Opportunites for Non-Wood Forest Products in Niche Markets. Forest prod-ucts division., Forestry department, FAO. http://www.fao.org/organicag/doc/unctad2001.htm

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E-mail: mst@mail.orbitel.bg; stoyanovnick@abv.bg