Forest industry

In Finland the processing of raw materials from forests into sawn wood and paper products started at the end of the 19th century. Besides wood products and paper, today wood is also utilised for the manufacture of fabrics, medicines, chemicals, functional foods, animal feed, plastics, cosmetics, smart packaging materials and transport biofuels.

Details on the production volumes of the forest industry in 2023 are available in statistics published by the Finnish Forest Industries Federation.

Forest industry is a key source of well-being in Finland. The share of exports in forest industry production varies from 97% to 48%, depending on the product category. In 2023 the value of forest industry’s exports totalled EUR 12 billion, 27% of this from paperboard exports. The share of paper and pulp was about 20% each, that of sawn wood about 15%.

The forest sector is an important employer especially outside the major urban centres. Relative to its size, of the world countries Finland is the most strongly dependent on forests and leans the most on the activities of the forest sector. This is also why Finland now possesses unique competence and skills in forest management and forest industry.

Side streams of wood processing are also utilised efficiently

Wood processing side streams are utilised efficiently in the forest and energy industries. Modern pulp and paper plants function as integrated production establishments where the fractions generated as side streams of the main product have for a long time been used e.g. for manufacturing chemicals or producing energy.

Statistics on removals and wood consumption in forest industry published annually 

Based on data of the Natural Resources Institute Finland, in 2023 the volume of roundwood removals from our forests for the forest industry and exports totalled 58.6 million cubic metres. Of this, 26 million cubic metres was logs and 32.6 million cubic metres was fibrewood. The volume is 5.4 million cubic metres smaller than in the previous year and the same as in the past five years on average. Besides the processing industry, roundwood was also harvested for energy production and, a small amount, for household use. When logs, fibrewood and energy wood are added up, the volume of roundwood removals totalled 69 million cubic metres in 2023. Most of the roundwood used by the Finnish forest industry is of domestic origin.

Within the forest industry, pulp production uses the largest amount of roundwood, followed by sawmilling.

Related topics

Wood construction and wood products
Wood fuels in energy generation in Finland

Related links

Removals decreased to 69 million cubic metres in 2023
Forest industry statistics (Finnish Forest Industries Federation)

Finnish Energy
Chemical Industry Federation of Finland
Finnish Sawmills Association
Bioeconomy.fi
New Wood Competition Uusipuu.fi