The figures in “UK Wood Production and Trade: 2012”, produced in conjunction with the UK Statistics Authority, also show that UK sawn timber imports grew by 4% to 5.1 million m3.
UK production of wood-based panels fell 11% to 3 million m3, while panel imports were down by 6% to 2.7 million m3. The total value of wood product imports was £6.4bn (-6%), of which £4.3bn was pulp and paper (-9%).
UK wood product exports were worth £1.8bn (-3%), of which £200m was attributable to timber and panels. The Forestry Commission says 10.1 million green tonnes of softwood (roundwood) was harvested from UK forests (+1%), while 500,000 green tonnes of hardwood was felled (-1%).
Sawmills bought 6.1 million green tonnes of the harvested timber (+3%), with the wood-based panel industry sourcing 1.3 million green tonnes. Integrated pulp and paper mills took 500,000 green tonnes (+2%), while other uses included round fencing, woodfuel, shavings and roundwood exports, accounting for 2.5 million green tonnes (+1%).
Final results for 2012 will be released on September 26. On the pricing front, the average price for softwood sawlog sales was £28.60/m3 overbark in nominal terms in the six months to March 2013, according to the Forestry Commission’s latest Timber Price Indices.
The softwood sawlog price index was 0.8% higher in real terms during the period, while the coniferous standing sales price index was 7.7% lower in real terms, compared to a year ago.
Meanwhile, new woodland growth in England totalled 1.82 million ha in the 2012-13 financial year, a 6% reduction from a year ago.
The commission said this was “reasonably robust” considering the outbreak of chalara ash dieback and was still 3% more than 2010-11.
“There is work to do yet to increase woodland creation rates to the levels aspired to in the government’s forestry and woodlands policy statement,” it said.
