Adding value

During 2002 the Estonian forest industry saw simultaneous investment in new plant and a stepping up of the technical specification of products. Sawmills poured money into further processing of sawn wood, new kilns and boiler plants and now it can be difficult to buy wet timber from the bigger sawmills as they want to use their drying capacity to maximum effect.

Last year two sawmills, Imavere and Haret, invested in modern planing lines with an annual output of 30,000m3. Rait's profiling line, with a speed of 150m/min, is due to start this spring. Added to Scanforest's 66,000m3 in 2002 and Natural's 30,000m3, Estonia's annual planing capacity will reach 200,000m3.

As there is not enough raw material to support new sawmills in Estonia and it is too risky to build new sawmills based on imported logs, Sylvester Group built its Launkalne sawmill in Latvia. The first logs were sawn in March last year and in July it produced 8,067m3.

In autumn 2002 it reached 13,000m3 a month, which is almost full capacity for three shifts. Total investment was €18m.

Although production of sawn material is increasing rapidly, the use of it by the Estonian forest based industry is increasing even faster.

Between 1998 and 2002 exports of glulam panels and beams increased 15 times, reaching €27.5m. The main market for Estonian sawn material is the UK and its volume share in 2002 increased to 30.5%, up from 27.6% in 2001. The second biggest, Germany, took only 9.2%.

Environmental concerns

Environmental issues are becoming an ever higher priority on the agenda of Estonian companies. All state forests are certified to the Forest Stewardship Council system, but developments in the private forest sector are not happening quickly enough. Therefore some companies, led by Stora Enso, have started their own chain of custody systems to establish the source of wood. The Estonian Pan European Forest Certification (PEFC) scheme is currently undergoing examination to see if it will be accepted by the PEFC Council and this will possibly give private forest owners a choice in the future.

Annual felling volume in Estonia has stabilised at a about 12 million m3 and has been controlled by a statistical inventory for some years now.

There has been a lot of discussion about whether this inventory is giving the right data, but analysis of satellite photographs of Estonian forests this spring showed it is credible. An electronic database of all Estonian forests, including private ones, will be in operation shortly. Soon every company will be able to ascertain if a plot declared by a seller really exists, and how much of the wood from the plot has already been sold.

Combined with satellite photographs, this database will give environmental authorities a clear picture of what is going on in the forests.

Woodinfo campaign

A remarkable event took place in Estonia last year when the bigger sawmills and wood retailers started a campaign for enhanced use of wood in Estonia – a similar scheme to wood. for good in the UK.

A year in to the Woodinfo programme Estonia reports steady progress in increasing awareness of wood in the country's domestic market.

The programme was funded in its first year to the tune of e65,000 by Estonian sawmills and wood retailers. This year the amount of money will be around e110,000 thanks to more companies pledging support and a grant from Estonia's environmental investment agency.

Although Estonia has a long tradition of using wood and has a developed forest and woodworking industry, the level of use of wood in the domestic market, especially in buildings, is insufficient.

The main aim of the programme is to improve the competitiveness of wood. It also aims to help consumers understand that wood is renewable, saves energy, creates a healthy living environment, is affordable, gives copious possibilities in architecture and design, and is both a traditional and modern material.

Activities include introducing new possibilities for using wood and analysing existing ones; disseminating instructions for using wood; encouraging good practice in industry and engineering and creating a database of retailers, builders and producers. The campaign includes printed material, seminars, training sessions and study tours, and competitions for architects and builders.