Compiling of "wood balances" (general balances, trade balances) for Germany, the EU, and its member countries

Annual fellings contribute about the fifth part of the total supply of all wood based products in Germany. Imports account for more than 50 per cent and hence the largest part, as our annual calculations of the wood balances for Germany show. Where does the rest come from?

Background and Objective

Our analysis of wood balances aims at showing total supply, use and consumption of all wood and wood based products. Hence, it illustrates the relation of domestic production, foreign trade and use and provides insights in market structures and markets developments. As such wood balances are an important basis of information for actors in politics and industry.

Approach

On the supply side, our wood balance comprises the annual fellings, the quantity of domestic recovered paper and recovered wood and the imports. The use side shows the exports and domestic consumption. Changes in stocks of wood products are also recorded. Data sources are official statistics, statistics from industry federations and scientific studies. Data of annual fellings are taken from Thünen-Recalculation of Wood Fellings, beginning with the year 1995.The general time series of our data start in 1950.

Wood and wood based products comprises all wood based raw materials as well as semi-finished and finished products. For the calculation we use the unit cubic meters of roundwood equivalent (m³(r)). This unit is a theoretical figure which expresses how many units of roundwood have been used for the manufacturing of a unit of a specific wood based product. Consequently, losses of wood during processing are considered.

Preliminary Results

Since 1950, the total wood balance of Germany (i.e. the use volume as well as the supply) has almost continuously grown from 30 million m³(r) in 1950 up to 260 million m³(r) actually. This is due primarily to the increase of the foreign trade. Foreign trade accounts for about one half of the total balance.

Apparent domestic consumption slightly increased in the period investigated, but less dynamically. Since 2014, domestic consumption varies around 130 million m³(r). In 2015 consumption is about 133 million m³(r) and in 2016 at about 129 million m³(r). Preliminary data for 2017 show a drop to 123 million m³(r). In 2016 76 million m³(r) of domestic consumption accounted for wood products and 52 million m³(r) accounted for paper products.

Links and Downloads

www.thuenen.de/en/wf/figures-facts/wood-balances/

Thünen-Contact

• Weimar, Holger Institute of International Forestry and Forest Economics

Duration

Permanent task 1.2001

More Information

Projekt type:
Project status: ongoing

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