Last year’s buoyant home-grown sawn timber market has been confirmed in new Forestry Commission statistics which show a 6% rise in domestic sawn timber production and 4.5% growth in the softwood sawlog index.
Sawn timber production at UK mills grew to 3.3 million m³ in 2011, compared to 4.9 million m³ for imports.
Wood-based panel output was unchanged at 3.4 million m³, while panel imports totalled 2.8 million m³.
Harvesting of UK roundwood grew 7% to 9.9 million green tonnes, with hardwood up 1% to 500,000 tonnes. Deliveries to sawmills rose 4% to 5.9 million green tonnes and rose 3% to 1.4 million green tonnes for wood-based panel manufacturers.
Other uses, including round fencing, woodfuel, shavings and roundwood exports accounted for 2.5 million green tonnes.
The average price for softwood sawlogs was £37.83 per m³ overbark in the six months to March 2012 – a 4.5% growth.
For more details on the statistics click here
