2018 sees more roundwood felled from forests

A total of 78 million cubic metres of roundwood was felled from Finnish forests in 2018, said a press release of the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

Out of the of felled wood, 89 per cent was used by the forest industries and 11 per cent was used as energy.

According to the Luke, the quantity felled exceeded the previous year’s level by nearly six million cubic metres, setting yet another record.

In 2018, the amount of industrial roundwood increased by nine per cent from the previous year to 68.9 million cubic metres.

Logs accounted for 43 per cent and pulpwood for 57 per cent of the total felling volume. When the annual consumption of roundwood by small sawmills is added to the volume, the total amount of roundwood felled for the forest industries or exports was 69.2 million cubic metres.

In addition, nearly nine million cubic metres of roundwood were felled for use as energy, i.e. as wood chips in heat and power plants or as fuelwood in detached houses.

In total, 78.2 million cubic metres of roundwood were felled. This is nearly six million cubic metres, or eight per cent, more than in the previous year.

According to an estimate made by Luke in the autumn of 2018, the maximum sustainable felling potential of Finnish forests during the current 10-year period (from 2015 to 2024) is 84 million cubic metres of roundwood per year. Not all diversity targets and carbon sink obligations are included in this estimate.

"In 2018, roundwood removals accounted for up to 93 per cent of the sustainable felling potential. Between 2015 and 2018, the corresponding average figure was 86 per cent," said Jukka Torvelainen, a senior statistician at Luke.

In addition to roundwood removals, the drain of growing stock includes the volume the roundwood left in the forests in connection with felling and the unused natural deadwood added to the total felling volume. In 2018, these two items totalled over 15 million cubic metres, meaning that the total drain increased to almost 94 million cubic metres. This was seven per cent higher than in the year before.

"Some 107 million cubic metres of new roundwood grow in our forests every year. This means that the total amount of roundwood increased by roughly 13 million cubic metres, regardless of the record-high drain," Torvelainen said.