The decrease in fellings was due to the weaker demand for forest industry products.
The volume of stemwood felled in Finland in 2023 went down from before, to 69 million cubic metres, according to information by Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).
Logwood fellings decreased by nine percent and those of fibrewood by eight percent.
‘Last year, the volume of living standing wood decreased through fellings, forest management operations and natural removal by 82,3 million cubic metres. The increment (new growth) of stemwood was 103,6 cubic metres, which means that the total volume of wood increased by 21,3 million cubic metres,’ reports Senior Statistician Jukka Torvelainen in Luke’s bulletin.
Forest carbon sinks have been debated in Finland in recent years. They have an important role in the climate policies of Finland and the EU. The carbon sink refers to the process which removes carbon from the atmosphere and reduces its CO2 content, thus cooling the climate.
So far, the increase of the forest carbon sinks due to the lower felling volumes has not been quantified. More information on this will be available in May, as was said by Jukka Torvelainen in the social media service X.
Less demand for forestry products
Compared to the estimated felling potential, actual total fellings in Finland were 11.2 million cubic metres less in 2023. According to Torvelainen, the underlying factor is the weakened demand for forestry products.
According to the Finnish Forest Industries Federation, demand for forest industry products dropped in the key market regions last year. This was due to high inflation, rising interest rates and high inventory levels.
In chemical forest industry, the production of paper went down by 5.0 percent compared to the 2022 level. The production of paperboard dropped by as much as 18.6 percent, while the production of pulp only decreased by half a percent.
The production of sawn goods in 2023 was 6.8 percent less than the year before, and the production of plywood decreased by a fifth (21.6 percent).
2 comments on “Fellings in Finland went down in 2023 – amount of wood in forests increased”
/ Justino Delcampo
It is unclear to me what the concept “drain” means. What is the part of it that is not counted as roundwood removals ? Where does it go ? Does it leave the forest or is it part of the C sink?
Thanks for elucidating.
/ Mari Kartau
I think “drain” and “natural removal” refere mostly to natural tree mortaliy.