Documentation of statistics total roundwood removals and drain

General description of the statistics

Total removals represent the total volume of stemwood harvested from forests for use. They include stemwood felled for the manufacture of forest industry products and energy generation. They also include exported wood.

Total drain includes, in addition to total removals, the volume of stemwood left in forests as logging residues (removal waste) and naturally died stemwood remaining in forests (natural drain).

Total removals are calculated per calendar year based on data in Luke’s other forest statistics. The calculation principles applied to logging residues and natural drain, included in total drain, have been produced in conjunction with the National Forest Inventories.

Classifications

Total removals and drain are recorded chronologically, based on the time of felling and geographically based on the felling location. Fuelwood consumed as energy (together with raw materials for forest chips consumed at heat and power plants until 2015) is, however, recorded based on the time and location of consumption. Currently, the calendar year-specific statistics are divided into the regions of Finland. Data is published by forest owner group, tree species and assortment.

Coverage

Total removals represent the total volume of stemwood harvested from Finnish forests for use. Total drain includes total removals, naturally died stemwood and stemwood from logging residues remaining in forests. 

Statistical concepts and definitions

Total removals represent the total volume of stemwood harvested from forests for use or exports. It includes industrial roundwood felled for the manufacture of forest industry products and energywood felled for energy generation.

Industrial roundwood includes:

• Industrial roundwood felled for the manufacture of forest industry products in Finland and for exports. 
• Roundwood sawn for private use by non-industrial private forest owners (domestic use).

Total removals mainly consist of commercial felling, statistics on which are described in detail in the quality report for the statistics on commercial fellings.

Energywood includes:

• Fuelwood and chips made from stemwood and consumed in small-scale housing (detached houses, farms and free-time residences). 
• The part of domestic stemwood harvested as raw material for forest chips consumed at heat and power plants that is not included in total industrial roundwood removals. 
• Logging residues and stumps harvested as raw material for forest chips are not included in total removals that only include stemwood.

Total drain includes not only total removals, but also stemwood died and remaining in forests during the statistical period:

• Stemwood remaining unused in forests as logging residues after harvesting. 
• Naturally died stemwood remaining in forests, i.e. natural drain.

Since 2015, the statistics have been divided into the regions of Finland. Before this, the statistics were divided between the operating areas of the Finnish Forest Centre. Data is published by forest owner group, tree species and assortment.

In these statistics, the term “non-industrial private forests” means forests of non-industrial private forest owners and forests owned by municipalities, parishes and other associations. All state-owned forests have been managed by Metsähallitus since 2008. Forest industries include enterprises that forestry enterprises are shareholders of. Data on forests owned by the state and forest industry companies has been recorded as integrated since 2008 for data protection reasons.

Regarding industrial roundwood assortments, logs and pulpwood have the same quality requirements as in Luke’s statistics on commercial fellings. No minimum top diameter has been set for roundwood felled as energywood.

Statistical unit

The statistics on total removals and drain include stemwood felled for use and dead stemwood remaining in forests. Total removals are calculated based on data in Luke’s other forest statistics. 

Population of the statistics

The details of industrial roundwood felling are presented in quality reports for Luke’s statistics on commercial fellings and the consumption of roundwood by smaller sawmills. The details of fuelwood statistics are included in the quality report for the statistics on wood consumption, and the details of the harvesting of forest chips are presented in the quality report for the statistics on commercial fellings. 

Calculation principles for total drain are produced in conjunction with the Finnish National Forest Inventories. Their data is a sampling dataset covering the whole of Finland.

Measuring unit

Wood volumes are recorded as solid cubic metres (m3) with bark and published to an accuracy of 1,000 cubic metres.

Reference period

Calendar year

Reference area

Currently, the statistics are divided between the regions of Finland, and data is also calculated for the whole of Finland.

Chronological coverage

Data is available starting from 1985.

Distribution frequency

Annually

Base period

These are not index statistics.

The statistics are compiled based on the Act on the Natural Resources Institute Finland (561/2014), the act on food and natural resource statistics (562/2014) and the Statistics Act (280/2004).

More information: Statistics legislation

Confidentiality is a base principle of statistics and assures the confidential processing of data provided by informants, and the Natural Resources Institute Finland has undertaken to follow this principle.

More information: Privacy policy – Statistics

The disseminations of the Natural Resources Institute Finland are published online on weekdays at 9:00.  Data is public after it has been published on the website.

Publication calendar

The publication dates are confirmed in autumn together with the action plans. The release calendar of the following year is published for users in the end of the year. The release calendar holds data on the dates of future publications. The calendar also contains direct links to already published statistical publication.

Access to the publication calendar

Statistical releases calendar | Natural Resources Institute Finland

Quality assurance

In compiling statistics, the National Resources Institute Finland (Luke) complies with the Code of Practice (CoP) for European statistics and the Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) based on it. The CoP concerns the independence and liability obligation of the statistical authorities and the quality of processes and published information. Its principles are compatible with and supplement the principles of official statistics approved by the UK Statistical Commission. In addition, the quality criteria set for the Official Statistics of Finland are compatible with the CoP. Its principles are also compatible with the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM).

Quality evaluation

Statistical values are compared with previous data in the compilation of the statistics.

Users of the statistics are requested to provide feedback during meetings concerning changes in the statistics and in conjunction with written requests for comments. Feedback is also received directly. Feedback from users is monitored and taken into account when developing the statistics.

Users’ needs

Using the statistics, different parties to wood trade can monitor the use of forests. Total removals can be compared with the estimated felling potential, while total drain can be compared with tree growth. The data is used in research, reviews of economic cycles in the forest sector and forecasts, as well as the preparation and monitoring of the National Forest Strategy 2025 and 2035 and regional forest programmes.

User satisfaction

Feedback is collected from the users of the statistics, especially when revising the statistics. Feedback is also received directly. In addition, we investigated the wishes of users for developing the statistics in the autumn of 2021 and beginning of 2022, when updating the work programme for the Natural Resources Institute Finland. We follow the received feedback and take it into consideration in developing the statistics.

Completeness 

The statistics cover the requirements of EU regulations and national data needs.

Accuracy and reliability in general

The population of commercial fellings includes all significant companies that fell industrial roundwood. In recent years, the felling volumes of industrial roundwood have covered roughly 85 per cent of total removals and 70 per cent of total drain.

The most recent survey of small sawmills concerned 2008–2010, after which the 2010 volume has been used as the volume of roundwood sawn for private use by non-industrial private forest owners. As it has accounted for less than one per cent of total removals, any changes in it have only a minor impact on the results and their reliability.

Total energywood removals accounted for at most ten per cent of total removals until 2007, while their share has been roughly 15 per cent in recent years. Statistics on energywood for 2008–2015 are based on consumption volumes, not on felling volumes. Statistics on harvesting volumes of forest chips consumed at plants have not been as comprehensive and reliable as statistics on the felling of industrial wood.

The felling volume of fuelwood consumed in small-scale housing has been assumed to be equal to the consumption volume of fuelwood. Fuelwood consumption volumes have been identified nearly every ten years, and these results have been used unmodified in Luke’s statistics until the next survey. Volumes of fuelwood consumed in small-scale housing were previously identified for the 2016/2017 heating season. The volumes were divided into tree species using calculations based on the previous survey’s ratios of tree species.

The estimate of roundwood felled as raw material for forest chips was specified when the calculation method was changed in 2008. Before this, consumption volumes of forest chips were recorded according to the year and location of consumption. These items are divided into tree species based on a calculation. 

Regarding total drain, volumes of logging residues and natural drain has been calculated in the 2000’s based on sample plot data of the National Forest Inventory.

Timeliness

The aim is to publish preliminary data concerning the statistical year (calendar year) during the following February and final regional data during the following May.

Geographical comparability

The data is comparable in the national regions included in the statistics. However, the classification of regions has changed during the history of the statistics. Until 1996, the regions consisted of the regions of forest boards (19). After 1996, the regions of forest centres were used (14 in 2015). The regions of Finland have been used since 2015. Regional data is not comparable between the years when the methodology was changed.

Chronological comparability

All wood volumes presented in the statistics are solid cubic metres with bark.

Total removals and drain in 1991–1995 were originally recorded by forest board region. The data was calculated for each forest board region at the ratio of their forest areas.

Internal uniformity

The data included in the statistics is uniform. These are the only regularly compiled statistics in Finland that represent total roundwood removals and drain.

Source data

The statistics are calculated based on Luke’s other statistics.

Data collection frequency

The statistics are calculated based on Luke’s other statistics. 

Data collection method

Total roundwood removals are calculated based on Luke’s other statistics. Next, these basic statistics whose data collection, sampling and estimation methods are described in more detail in their own quality descriptions, are presented briefly.

Basic industrial roundwood data is obtained from the annually compiled statistics on commercial fellings. Currently, the statistics cover nearly all logs and pulpwood felled in Finland. The volume of roundwood sawn for private use by non-industrial private forest owners is added to these figures. It has been determined by means of small-scale sawmill surveys conducted every 10 years. The most recent small-scale sawmill survey included a mailed questionnaire to identify the consumption of wood at small sawmills in 2008–2010.

Data on industrial roundwood felling is collected annually through stratified sampling, including all largest wood buyers. As the forest industry is centralised in Finland, the companies included in the data collection process for the annual statistics have covered more than 95 per cent of Finland’s total industrial roundwood felling volumes in recent years. In addition, forest industry companies separately report their own felling volumes and those of their forest owner companies, and Metsähallitus reports felling volumes in state-owned forests.

The most recent small-scale sawmill survey was targeted at sawmill companies and contractors that consume at most 10,000 cubic metres of wood per year. The survey identified roughly 1,200 small sawmills that accounted for a little more than three per cent of all wood consumed by the sawmill industry in 2008–2010.

Total energywood removals consist of roundwood consumed as fuelwood in small-scale housing, as well as domestic roundwood harvested for energy generation at heat and power plants (used until 2015), not included in industrial roundwood removals.

Volumes of fuelwood consumed in small-scale housing (detached houses, farms and free-time residences) have been identified from wood users through sample surveys conducted nearly every ten years. The most recent survey of the consumption of fuelwood in detached houses was targeted at the 2016/2017 heating season, and its data was collected through a questionnaire mailed to a total of 10,000 residents or homeowners based on stratified sampling.

Volumes of roundwood consumed in energy generation at heat and power plants were recorded based on consumption volumes until 2015. The calculation was based on data collected annually from heat and power plants for the statistics on wood in energy generation. Since 2016, raw materials for forest chips consumed at heat and power plants have been recorded in the statistics on commercial fellings, as reported by harvesting organisations. Therefore, they are allocated on the basis of the calendar year of harvesting and the location of forests, similarly to industrial roundwood.

Validation of data

The data obtained through the calculation is compared with previous data.

Processing of data

The following assumptions are used in the calculation:

• Regarding raw materials for forest chips, total removals include whole trees and pruned stems. Larger roundwood consumed at heat and power plants, and pulpwood intended for burning are not recorded separately, as they are largely included in industrial roundwood removals and also include imported wood.
• All energywood is recorded as obtained from non-industrial private forests, as owner group-specific data needs to be encrypted.
• The division of energywood into tree species is not accurately known. The tree species-specific volumes of fuelwood for the 2016/2017 heating season have been divided by the ratios of tree species in the previous fuelwood survey. Raw materials for forest chips consumed at plants have been divided into tree species by forest centre region based on the study of the felling potential of forest chips (Anttila et al. 2013). The study was based on the tenth National Forest Inventory’s data regarding test areas in mature stands requiring processing and first thinning forests. Accordingly, pine accounted for two fifths, spruce a fifth and hardwood two fifths of Finland’s stem and whole tree potential.

Total drain is calculated by adding estimates of logging residues and natural drain to total removals. Currently, data on logging residues and natural drain is based on measurements and calculations regarding the National Forest Inventory’s test area data.

The calculation principles of natural drain were most recently updated in 2023. New calculation principles for natural drain and waste wood based on the NFI12 (2014–2018) data were adopted in the calculation of total drain in 2022. At the same time, data for 2017–2021 were revised, as the new calculation principles apply to these years better than the previous ones. The change reduced total drain by an average of 0.4 per cent during the period.