# How to open a furniture factory or woodworking business in Moldova: made-to-order and series-produced furniture, joinery and wooden building components, and sawn timber, packaging and pellets

Furniture and woodworking need no licence and no sanitary operating authorisation. The rules start with the raw material: timber may only be received, stored and processed with proof of its legal origin, and raw wood, sawn timber and pellets cannot be exported. The page starts with made-to-order and series-produced furniture, where four in five of the field’s employees work, moves on to joinery and wooden building components, and ends with sawn timber, packaging and pellets.

## In brief

- **CAEM codes:** 16.23, 31.01 and 31.09
- **Licence:** Not required (and no sanitary operating authorisation either)
- **Timber:** Only with proof of legal origin (without it, receiving, storing and processing are banned)
- **Export:** Raw wood, sawn timber and pellets cannot be exported (furniture, joinery, boards and packaging can)

## Made-to-order furniture workshop or furniture factory: the CAEM code, documented timber and the lacquering threshold

A furniture workshop needs neither a licence nor a sanitary operating authorisation. The code depends on what you make: 31.02 for kitchens, 31.01 for offices and shops, 31.09 for bedrooms, dining rooms and sofas. Timber may only be received and processed with proof of its legal origin. An integrated environmental permit is needed only when lacquering uses more than 200 tonnes of solvents a year.

| Code | Activity | What it means in practice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 31.09 | Manufacture of other furniture | Bedroom, dining-room and garden furniture, sofas and armchairs, including painting, lacquering and upholstering it. Re-upholstering old furniture comes under 95.24. |
| 31.02 | Manufacture of kitchen furniture | Kitchen furniture, cabinets included. Kitchen cabinets do not come under joinery, even when they are made from the same boards. |
| 31.01 | Manufacture of office and shop furniture | Office furniture, counters, display cases and shelving, seating for auditoriums, hotels and restaurants, and furniture for schools, churches and laboratories. Installing modular furniture comes under 43.32. |
| 31.03 | Manufacture of mattresses | Spring or stuffed mattresses, cellular rubber or plastic mattresses, and mattress supports. |

- **Authorisation: Integrated environmental permit** — Environment Agency, valid for 12 years. Producing OSB, particleboard or fibreboard at more than 600 m³ a day, preserving wood with chemicals at more than 75 m³ a day, other than treatment solely against mould, and lacquering, painting or impregnating with an organic solvent consumption above 150 kg an hour or 200 tonnes a year. It costs 30,000 lei. Below these thresholds, the industrial emissions law requires no environmental permit for furniture or woodworking.

**Who buys it:** People ordering kitchens, wardrobes and home furniture, builders and developers furnishing flats, offices, hotels, restaurants, schools and shops, furniture chains and export buyers.

**What is different about the money:** Furniture carries 20% VAT: the Tax Code sets no reduced rate for it and levies no excise duty. The export suspension that covers sawn timber does not apply to furniture.

## Making doors and windows, stairs or timber houses: what permits you need

Joinery needs no licence. Doors, windows, stairs, beams, rafters, saunas and prefabricated timber houses come under 16.23, and assembled parquet panels under 16.22. Timber may only be received and processed with proof of its legal origin, and roundwood may not be sawn into timber without it. Fitting at the client’s premises is construction work, with its own code.

| Code | Activity | What it means in practice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 16.23 | Manufacture of other builders’ carpentry and joinery | Doors, windows and shutters, stairs and railings, beams and rafters, shingles, saunas, and prefabricated timber houses and buildings. Installing them is construction work. |
| 16.22 | Manufacture of assembled parquet floors | Parquet assembled into panels. Unassembled parquet strips come under 16.10. |

- **Authorisation: Integrated environmental permit** — Environment Agency, valid for 12 years. Producing OSB, particleboard or fibreboard at more than 600 m³ a day, preserving wood with chemicals at more than 75 m³ a day, other than treatment solely against mould, and lacquering, painting or impregnating with an organic solvent consumption above 150 kg an hour or 200 tonnes a year. It costs 30,000 lei. Below these thresholds, the industrial emissions law requires no environmental permit for furniture or woodworking.

**Who buys it:** Construction companies and developers, people building or renovating their homes, building-materials shops, guesthouses and export buyers.

**What is different about the money:** Doors, windows, parquet and timber buildings carry 20% VAT. Unlike sawn timber, joinery and carpentry components can be exported.

## Sawmill, pallet or pellet plant: the export suspension, ISPM 15 marking and 8% VAT

A sawmill, a pallet plant and a pellet plant need no licence, but they face the most rules. Raw wood, sawn timber, firewood, sawdust and pellets cannot be exported. Pallets and crates for export are treated and marked under ISPM 15, with an authorisation from ANSA. Pellets sold in Moldova for producing heat carry 8% VAT.

| Code | Activity | What it means in practice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 16.10 | Sawmilling and planing of wood | Sawing, planing and drying wood, sawn timber, railway sleepers, impregnating and chemically treating wood, and wood shavings, sawdust and chips. Logging comes under 02.20. |
| 16.21 | Manufacture of veneer sheets and wood-based panels | Veneer, plywood, OSB, chipboard and MDF, and glued laminated timber. |
| 16.24 | Manufacture of wooden containers | Pallets and box pallets, crates and boxes, barrels and other cooperage, and cable drums. |
| 16.29 | Manufacture of other products of wood; manufacture of articles of cork, straw and plaiting materials | Pellets, briquettes and pressed firewood logs, kitchen utensils, frames, handles and other wooden articles, cork articles and wickerwork. |

- **Authorisation: Authorisation to apply the marking to wood packaging material** — National Food Safety Agency. A plant making pallets, crates or other wooden packaging that applies the ISPM 15 mark, the international standard for wood packaging used in international trade. It is granted to an operator entered in the register of professional operators that is competent in the treatments and either has its own treatment facility or uses only wood treated and marked by an authorised operator. Repairing marked packaging needs the same authorisation. An authorised operator is inspected at least once a year.
- **Authorisation: Integrated environmental permit** — Environment Agency, valid for 12 years. Producing OSB, particleboard or fibreboard at more than 600 m³ a day, preserving wood with chemicals at more than 75 m³ a day, other than treatment solely against mould, and lacquering, painting or impregnating with an organic solvent consumption above 150 kg an hour or 200 tonnes a year. It costs 30,000 lei. Below these thresholds, the industrial emissions law requires no environmental permit for furniture or woodworking.

**Who buys it:** Furniture factories and joineries, construction companies, exporters who need marked pallets and crates, warehouses and logistics companies, boiler houses, public institutions and people who heat their homes with firewood or pellets.

**What is different about the money:** Pellets, briquettes and other solid biofuels intended for producing electricity, heat and hot water are taxed at 8% VAT when supplied in Moldova, as are sawdust and wood residues sold as raw material for them. Sawn timber and pallets carry 20% VAT. Pellets and sawn timber cannot be sold for export.

## How the sector got here

- **4 March 2022 — Government Decision No. 140/2022.** The timber export suspension, in place since 2016, is extended to firewood, chips, sawdust, pellets and briquettes, and to coniferous and tropical sawn timber. Since then, all sawn timber thicker than 6 mm, raw wood and railway sleepers have been barred from export.
- **14 September 2024 — Law No. 422/2023.** The law on protective measures against plant pests takes effect, replacing the plant quarantine law. Only registered and authorised operators may apply the ISPM 15 mark to pallets and crates, and wood packaging entering the country must be treated and marked.
- **26 April 2025 — Forest Code No. 69/2024.** The new Forest Code takes effect. Timber may only be transported with the documents proving its legal origin, and receiving, storing or processing it without them is banned. It is traced from the felling site to first processing through the timber tracking information system.
- **1 January 2027 — CAEM Rev. 2.1 classification.** The new classification takes effect. All furniture is brought together in a single class, 31.00. In division 16, sawing and planing get 16.11 and wood processing and finishing 16.12, while wooden doors and windows, pellets and briquettes, and the finishing of wooden articles get classes of their own: 16.25, 16.26 and 16.27.

## How big the market is

For 2025, 652 furniture manufacturers filed financial statements, with 5,644 employees and sales revenue of 4.2 billion lei. By number of companies, furniture is the second-largest manufacturing division, after food. Woodworking has 379 companies, 1,435 employees and 1 billion lei in sales. Of the field’s 1,031 companies, 894 have fewer than ten employees.

The average gross wage in the fourth quarter of 2025 was 12,300 lei in furniture manufacturing and 10,603 lei in woodworking. The manufacturing average for the same quarter was 14,025 lei, and the economy-wide average 16,355 lei.

## What permits apply

The list of permits includes no licence for furniture, joinery, sawn timber or wooden packaging. No sanitary operating authorisation is required either: the list of activities that need one contains no class from divisions 16 or 31. Of the field’s products, only cork articles are on the list of non-food products that need a sanitary approval before they go on the market.

That leaves three rules that depend on what you do. Timber may only be received and processed with proof of its legal origin, and that applies to everyone. Pallets and crates marked for export need an authorisation from the National Food Safety Agency (ANSA). The integrated environmental permit is needed only above the capacity thresholds for boards, wood preservation and lacquering.

## Timber with proof of origin

The Forest Code bans receiving, storing, processing, selling or loading wood products onto any means of transport without proof of their legal origin. For a workshop, this means the documents are needed for every timber delivery it receives, not only when trees are felled. For sawmills, the code has a separate rule: roundwood may not be stored or sawn into timber or other semi-finished goods without these documents. The Environmental Protection Inspectorate seizes timber without documents, and if its legal origin cannot be established, the timber is confiscated.

The page on [agriculture, viticulture and forestry](/en/industries/agriculture-viticulture-forestry) explains how timber is felled and sold, how it travels with its documents and how it is tracked up to first processing.

## What cannot be exported

Government Decision No. 664/2016 suspends the export of timber under five tariff headings. They cover firewood, chips, sawdust, pellets and briquettes; raw wood, even if barked or roughly squared; hoopwood and split poles; railway sleepers; and sawn timber thicker than 6 mm, even if planed or sanded. Since March 2022, the list has also included firewood, pellets, and coniferous and tropical sawn timber.

The suspension does not cover products processed further. Veneer and sawn wood up to 6 mm thick, profiled wood such as cladding boards and parquet strips, wood-based panels and plywood, pallets and crates, builders’ joinery and furniture can be exported without this restriction.

## Pallets and crates for export: ISPM 15 marking

Pallets and crates used in international trade are treated and marked under the ISPM 15 standard. Moldova requires it for imports: wood packaging entering the country must be treated and marked, with the exceptions the standard allows.

On packaging made in Moldova, the mark may only be applied by an operator entered in the register of professional operators and authorised by the plant protection authority. The authorisation is granted to a plant competent in the treatments and has its own treatment facility, or to one that uses only wood treated and marked by an authorised operator and can show where it came from. Repairing marked pallets needs the same authorisation, and an authorised operator is inspected at least once a year.

## Lacquering, impregnation and boards

The industrial emissions law puts three operations from this field on its list of activities with a significant environmental risk. The first is producing OSB, particleboard or fibreboard at more than 600 m³ a day. The second is preserving wood with chemicals at more than 75 m³ a day, other than treatment solely against mould. The third is surface treatment with organic solvents, meaning lacquering, painting or impregnating, with a consumption above 150 kg an hour or 200 tonnes a year. Above these thresholds, a plant may operate only with an integrated environmental permit, which costs 30,000 lei and is issued for 12 years. The list of low-risk activities contains no class from divisions 16 or 31.

Below the permit threshold, the same law has rules for installations that use solvents. Installations that coat wooden surfaces using more than 15 tonnes of solvents a year, impregnate wood using more than 25 tonnes or laminate wood and plastic using more than 5 tonnes must meet the law’s emission limit values. The operator reports to the Environment Agency every year with data showing that it meets them.

## Which legal form to choose

For a factory or a workshop, the usual form is an SRL, which pays 12% income tax and whose liability is limited to the company’s own assets. Furniture, joinery, boards and packaging can be exported, so a company that wants to sell abroad picks, from the outset, products the export rules allow.

We handle the choice of CAEM codes, the articles of association, the filing with the Public Services Agency and the opening of the bank account. We prepare the application for the wood packaging marking authorisation and the export paperwork, and for a foreign company we register a Moldovan company or a free economic zone resident. We can take over the accounting, including records of the timber received and its proof of origin, from the first month. What each service includes is on the [corporate services](/en/corporate-services) page.

## Frequently asked questions

### Do you need a licence to open a furniture workshop?

No. The list of permits includes no licence for furniture or woodworking, and the workshop needs no sanitary operating authorisation either. What matters is the raw material: timber and semi-finished wood may only be received and processed with proof of legal origin. An environmental permit is needed only above the capacity thresholds for boards, wood preservation and lacquering.

### Which CAEM code should you choose for made-to-order furniture?

It depends on what you make: 31.02 for kitchen furniture, 31.01 for office and shop furniture, 31.09 for bedrooms, dining rooms, sofas and armchairs, including their lacquering and upholstery, and 31.03 for mattresses. Cupboards and wardrobes come under furniture, not joinery. Installing modular furniture at the client’s premises has the code 43.32, and re-upholstering old furniture 95.24.

### Can you export sawn timber from Moldova?

No. Government Decision No. 664/2016 suspends exports of raw wood, sawn timber thicker than 6 mm, railway sleepers, firewood, chips, sawdust, pellets and briquettes. Veneer, profiled wood, wood-based panels and plywood, pallets and crates, joinery and furniture can be exported.

### What do you need to make pallets for export?

Pallets that travel abroad with goods are treated under the ISPM 15 standard and carry its mark. In Moldova, the mark may only be applied by an operator registered with and authorised by ANSA: one that has a treatment facility or uses only wood treated by an authorised operator. The same authorisation is needed to repair marked pallets.

### What VAT rate applies to pellets?

Pellets, briquettes and other solid biofuels intended for producing electricity, heat and hot water are taxed at 8% VAT when supplied in Moldova. The same rate applies to sawdust and wood residues sold as raw material for biofuel. Sawn timber, pallets and furniture carry 20% VAT.

### What documents does the timber you buy need?

Documents proving its legal origin. The Forest Code bans receiving, storing, processing and selling wood products without them, and timber may only be transported with the documents travelling with it the whole way. A sawmill may not store roundwood or saw it into timber without them. The Environmental Protection Inspectorate seizes timber without documents, and if its origin cannot be established, the timber is confiscated.

Choosing the CAEM codes, drafting the constitutive documents and filing with the Public Services Agency are part of the registration service.