Finland exports lumber, forest products worth €12b in 2024

The value of forest industry exports was roughly EUR 12 billion last year, accounting for 17 per cent of Finland’s total exports of goods, according to the National Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

Measured in real terms, the export value remained almost unchanged from the previous year, while exports of paperboard and sawn goods in particular increased, said Luke in a press release on Friday.

Pulp and paper industry products accounted for 74 per cent, wood products for 25 per cent, and roundwood and by-products for one per cent of the export value.

Paperboard was the most valuable product group in exports in 2024, covering 27 per cent of the export value.

Measured in real terms, the export value of pulp decreased by five per cent and that of paper by one per cent, whereas the export value of paperboard increased by five per cent to EUR 3.3 billion.

“The increased exports of paperboard kept the pulp and paper industry’s export earnings at the previous year’s level at EUR 8.9 billion", said Tiina Mäkipää, Senior Statistician of Luke.

The value of exports of pulp and paper industry products to Europe was EUR 5.3 billion.

Other significant export partners were China and the USA, each accounting for roughly EUR 1 billion.

China mainly purchased bleached sulphate pulp and the USA paper and paperboard from Finland.

The recovered demand for sawn goods increased their prices in 2024. Even though the export volume of sawn goods decreased by two per cent, the export value increased by seven per cent to almost EUR 2 billion in real terms.

Sawn goods accounted for 16 per cent of the total export value of forest industry products.

“Finnish sawn goods were exported not only to Europe but also to Asia and Africa. The most significant export countries were Japan and China in Asia, Egypt and Algeria in Africa", Mäkipää said.

Europe accounted for 60 per cent and Asia for 21 per cent of the Finnish forest industry’s export earnings.

Germany and China maintained their position as the most important export countries. Germany accounted for 11 per cent and China for ten per cent of forest industry exports.

The USA was the third largest export country with its share of nine per cent.

Even though Japan was only the eighth most significant country in forest industry exports, it was one of the most significant buyers of wood products. In addition, Japan was the only significant buyer of Finnish glulam. As in previous years, glulam exports to Japan totalled EUR 0.1 billion, accounting for 98 per cent of its export value.

Estonia and Latvia were the most significant importers of roundwood into Finland. Imports of roundwood and by-products grew by 11 per cent from the previous year to 5.6 million cubic metres.

The volume of roundwood and by-products imported from Latvia increased to 2.3 million cubic metres, up by 47 per cent from the previous year.

Latvia accounted for 41 per cent and Estonia for 33 per cent of imports of roundwood into Finland. Sweden was third at 17 per cent. The value of imported roundwood increased by eight per cent to roughly EUR 440 million.

The import volume of roundwood and by-products decreased by nine per cent to 1.8 million cubic metres which can mostly be explained by the halving of birch pulpwood imports from the previous year. The value of wood exports increased to EUR 178 million, up by four per cent from the year before.

Sweden was clearly the most significant buyer of roundwood with its volume of 1.3 million cubic metres, even through the volume decreased by seven per cent from the previous year.

Exports to Sweden accounted for as much as 72 per cent of the total volume. It was followed by Estonia at 10 per cent, while Latvia became the third largest roundwood buyer at six per cent. The volume of roundwood exported to Estonia increased by 12 per cent and that of roundwood exported to Latvia grew by as much as 87 per cent.