According to the data of the Finnish Institute of natural resources, 65 million cubic meters of trees in Finnish forests were harvested for forest industry in 2021. As a major industrial log, spruce has the highest logging volume, more than ever before. At the same time, up to 10 million cubic meters of logs have been cut down for energy production.

The high supply of forest products and the increase in demand for wood are reflected in the rapid growth of commercial logging in 2021. The volume of industrial log felling increased by 7 million cubic meters, or 12%, compared with the previous year, and increased by 4% compared with the average volume of log felling in the previous five years.

During 2021, the removal of logs also broke a new record at the monthly level. In four months, the removal of industrial logs exceeded 6 million cubic meters, of which 7.4 million cubic meters reached the highest in March.

Log removal has never exceeded the upper limit of 30 million cubic meters per year before. Last year, a total of 30.3 million cubic meters of logs were removed, an increase of 14% compared with the average level of the previous five years.

The removal of spruce logs is particularly high, reaching 16.3 million cubic meters. This is the first time that the removal of spruce logs exceeds that of pulp pine. This year, 16 million cubic meters of Finnish pulp pine were removed.

Spruce log removal was 26% higher than the previous year and 15% higher than the average of the previous five years. The removal of pine logs also reached an all-time high of 12.9 million cubic meters. The increase in logging mainly comes from non industrialized private forests.

In commercial logging, 6.2 million cubic meters of energy wood were harvested for heating and power stations.

Finland also imports logs for Finland’s forest industry and energy production. According to preliminary estimates, Finland imported 12-13 million cubic meters of logs in 2021. Pulpwood accounts for about 7 million m3, wood chips account for 4 million m3, and logs are less than 500000 m3.

According to preliminary estimates, the total logging volume increased by 10% over the previous year, reaching 75.8 million cubic meters. The logging volume in 2021 is the second highest in the history of statistics, just 2 million cubic meters more than the peak year in 2018.