The majority of wood is exported as timber which comes as no surprise as, ever since independence, most of Slovenia’s wood-processing companies have collapsed. One can count around 20 once active companies in the wood industry. Three years ago the government came up with a strategic plan to re-establish the forest-wood processing industry and employ more than 22 thousand workers in the industry until the year 2020. However, in the past three years it hasn’t managed to do much. In its best days Slovenia’s wood-processing industry employed around 40 thousand people. At this moment it employs only around 10 thousand.

The last decade in the wider Notranjska region has seen the collapse of companies like KLI Logatec, Javor Pivka, LIKO Vrhnika and the last to join them, Brest Cerknica. The collapse scenario of the once successful companies was evidently the same: a small group of people tried to get rich through chaotic privatization processes, carried out by taking out loans to financially burden the companies. They had no vision and invested nothing in the development of the companies to keep up with the progress in the wood industry.

But it’s not all grey. In the Kočevje area companies are picking themselves up again, the export of Kočevje wood abroad is decreasing and ever more young people are interested in carpentry. The municipal company, Kočevski Les, which was established more than a year ago, has given a big boost to the region. The company was formed to connect companies in the forestry-wood chain and supply them with domestic wood.

The plan for the next three years in the Kočevje area is to see the opening of 20 new companies and more than 200 new jobs in the region.

Barbara Renčof in Erika Pečnik Ladika, TV Slovenija; translated by K. J.