Roundwood consumption drops 3% in 2019

A total of 82 million solid cubic metres of roundwood were consumed in Finland in 2019, being three per cent lower than the corresponding volume in the previous year and the second highest in history, according to the statistics of the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

Nearly 90 per cent of roundwood were consumed in manufacturing o forest industry products, while the remaining amount was used for energy generation at heating and power plants and burned as fuelwood in small-scale housing. In addition, 26 million cubic metres of forest industry by-products and wood residues were used.

Consumption of domestic roundwood decreased, while that of imported roundwood increased

Most of the roundwood, or 71 million cubic metres, was consumed to manufacture forest industry products. Of this, 42 million cubic metres were processed in the pulp industries and 29 million cubic metres in the wood-products industries.

Domestic roundwood consumption amounted to 61 million cubic metres, while imported roundwood comprised 10 million cubic metres.

“Forest industries’ total roundwood consumption decreased by three per cent from the record year of 2018, when the consumption of domestic roundwood reached an all-time record. Now, its consumption decreased by five per cent. However, the consumption of imported roundwood continued to increase, going up by seven per cent from the previous year”, said Luke Senior Statistician Esa Ylitalo.

In total, 11 million cubic metres of roundwood were used in energy generation. This was the same volume as in 2018. Of this amount, nearly seven million cubic metres were burned as fuelwood in small-scale housing and four million cubic metres as forest chips manufactured from stemwood at heating and power plants.

A total of 26 million cubic metres of forest industry by-products and wood residues were used, nearly the same amount as in the previous year. Of this, nearly 10 million cubic metres were used for the production of forest industry products as sawmill chips and dust, while nearly17 million cubic metres were consumed for energy generation. In energy generation, heating and power plants consumed three million cubic metres of various types of forest residues, namely logging residues and stumps.

The consumption of forest industry by-products and wood residues, mainly industrial chips, sawdust and bark, amounted to 13 million cubic metres. In small-scale housing, almost half a million cubic metres of fuelwood from wood residues from sawmills and construction, as well as wood pellets, were burned.

““It is worth noting that, according to Luke’s Forest Accounts statistics, almost 60 per cent of all wood material used in Finland is used for energy generation, and the remaining 40 per cent is bound in forest industry products,"Ylitalo added.