Silvicultural and forest improvement work 2018

In 2018, a total of EUR 252 million were invested in silviculture and forest improvement, up by 3% from the previous year in real terms (deflated using the wholesale price index, 1949=100). Of this amount, silviculture comprised EUR 230 million and forest improvement EUR 22 million.
The highest costs came from all pre-commercial thinnings and improvement of young stands, nearly one-third of total silviculture and forest improvement costs. These were followed by artificial forest regeneration, accounting for 23% of total costs.
The artificial regeneration area decreased by 7% to 96,000 hectares from the previous year. All pre-commercial thinnings and young stands were managed over an area of 185,000 hectares.
On the basis of notifications of forest use, the felling area was estimated to be 794,000 hectares in 2018. Clearcutting made by more than one-fifth and natural regeneration 5% of the felling area. The area of thinning and the removal of seed trees and shelterwood trees totalled 573,000 hectares.
Statistics of silviculture and forest improvement include work carried out in non-industrial private forests, forest industries' forests and state owned forests. From 2015, the statistics do not include work carried out independently by non-industrial private forest owners in their own forests, as it is not recorded in the statistical data collected from forest service providers.

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