Finnish forests growing at record rate

Using all possibilities for felling would almost make up for gap in Russian imports

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The amount of wood growing in Finnish forests continues to increase. According to the tenth inventory of Finnish forests, the total volume of wood growing in the country is 2.2 billion cubic metres.
      According to the Finnish Forest Research Institute (METLA), annual growth has increased to 98.5 million cubic metres.
     
Growth in overall wood volume has meant that Finland could, in theory, be almost self-sufficient in wood, even if imports of timber from Russia were to grind to a complete halt in the coming years. However, on the practical level, it is very difficult to get a sustained sufficient flow of wood from Finnish private forests.
      METLA attributes the increased growth to the increase in fast-growing forest areas especially in the south of Finland. Favourable weather conditions are also seen to be a factor.
     
The maximum sustainable amount of felling for 2006-2015 is 72 million cubic metres of wood a year, which is 16 million more than what is now being cut down in Finland.
      In the past five years felling has been an average 56 million cubic metres a year. Imports from Russia have accounted for 18 million cubic metres.
      It was possible to increase the amount of potential sustainable felling in forest management recommendations by seven million cubic metres last year.
     
The increase in volume of available wood is mainly for coniferous trees. The volume of available spruce has decreased because of intense demand, but METLA nevertheless says that there is plenty of it available.
      Professor Tuula Nuutinen at METLA says that the amount of wood available has come as a positive surprise.
      She says that so much spruce has been harvested that some areas in the southeast and in Ostrobothnia face a shortage. She also points out, however, that the reserves remain strong.
     
Leafy trees - mainly birch used for the production of pulp - is expected to be in shorter supply.
      Felling of birch in Finland amounted to 14 million cubic metres, and imports from Russia were eight million cubic metres.
      Nuutinen says that the most unpredictable factor on the wood market remains the growth in the use of wood for energy. She says that sharp increases in the use of wood for fuel could affect the availability of wood for fibre.
     
The proportion of the use of private forests in the raw material supply for the Finnish forest industry will play a key role in the future, says Anders Portin, the head of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation.
      The federation says that there has been very little increase in wood on the market even though it has been commanding record-high prices.
      The Forest Industries Federation calculates that if there are problems in imports from Russia, there will be a need to cut down at least 60 million cubic metres in private forests each year.
      At the end of the 1990s a level of nearly 50 million cubic metres was achieved, but after that, the annual output from private forests has declined to an average 40 million cubic metres.
      The forest industry is aiming primarily at remote surveying, and the implementation of individual forest plans for individual forest owners - with the permission of those owners - in wood buying.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Wood shortage threatens pulp production in Kemijärvi (15.6.2007)
  Timber tariffs decrease investors´ interest in Russian forest industry (31.5.2007)
  Russian wood tariffs could threaten economic viability of Saimaa Canal (29.5.2007)
  UPM to start lay-off talks following shortage of birch logs (16.5.2007)
  Russian export tariff could end timber imports into Finland (12.2.2007)

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