Wood import increases one-third in 2018

The value of exported forest industry products in 2018 totalled more than EUR 13 billion, covering 21% of Finland’s goods exports.

The total value of Finland’s goods export was EUR 64 billion, according to the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

Finland imported 11.57 million cubic metres of wood in 2018. Wood imports increased by one-third from the previous year, said a press release.

“Pulpwood (63% of the total volume) and chips (27%) were the most significant import articles. The remaining 10% comprised logs, fuelwood, preserved wood and wood residues. The imports of pulpwood increased by 50% and those of chips by 16% from the previous year. The value of wood imports was roughly half a billion euros,” said Eeva Vaahtera, a senior statistician at Luke.

Russia continued to be the most significant wood imports country for Finland, even though its importance decreased.

In 2018, a total of 8.24 million cubic metres of wood were imported from Russia to Finland, accounting for 71% of total wood imports. The corresponding figure was 85% in the year before. Russia was followed by Estonia (12%) and Latvia (9%).

At the same time, a total of 2.10 million cubic metres of wood were exported from Finland, up by 48% from the previous year. Of the total wood exports, 72% were exported to Sweden, followed by Germany (6%) and Poland (5%).

In 2018, the value of exported Finnish forest industry products totalled EUR 13.17 billion, covering 21% of Finland’s exports of goods (EUR 64 billion). In real terms, the exports of forest industry products increased by 5% from the previous year.

The exports value of wood-products industries totalled EUR 2.89 billion, down by 5% from the previous year. The value of exported pulp and paper industry products was EUR 10.28 billion, increasing by 8% from 2017 in real terms. The most important export articles for Finnish forest industries were paper (33% of the value of exported forest industry products), paperboard (22%) and pulp (20%). The value of exported pulp increased by up to 28%, and that of exported paper and paperboard increased by 3% from 2017.

Finland’s key trading partners for exported forest industry products were Germany, China and the UK.

Germany accounted for 14% of the export earnings of forest industries, while China made up 10% and the UK 7%. Paper produced the highest value out of all product groups of forest industries exported to Germany and the UK, while pulp used in the manufacture of paper products accounted for 74% of forest industry products exported to China.

The value of imported forest industry products was EUR 1.59 billion. The most important trading partners were Sweden (17%), Estonia (15%) and Brazil (15%).

Paperboard was the most important article imported from Sweden, while furniture made up the key article imported from Estonia. Forest industry products imported from Brazil nearly exclusively comprised bleached sulphate pulp.