Total roundwood removals and drain, 2023 (provisional)

According to preliminary data, stemwood removals were 68,6 million cubic metres in 2023. This was 6.5 million cubic metres, or 9% less than the year before. Total drain decreased to 82 million cubic metres.

Total roundwood removals

• According to the preliminary data of Luke, a total of 68.6 million cubic metres of stemwood was harvested from Finnish forests in 2023. The volume decreased by 6.5 million cubic metres, or 9%, from the previous year. It was 8% lower than the average over the previous five years.
• Of the total stemwood removals, 58.9 million cubic metres, or 86 per cent, consisted of logs and pulpwood. Of these, 58.6 million cubic metres were felled for the forest industries and to the export market and 0.3 million cubic metres for household consumption by forest owners. Log removals decreased by 9% from the previous year, and the volume of pulpwood fell by 8%.
• The remainder, 9.7 million cubic metres, consisted of energywood, i.e. stemwood to be used as fuelwood in residential housing or as wood chips in heat and power plants. In addition, 2.2 million cubic metres of logging residues and stumps were also harvested from forests for burning. Logging residues and stumps are not included in the total stemwood removal statistics.
• Luke has estimated that the sustained yield of Finnish forests during the period from 2019 to 2028 is on average 79.8 million cubic metres of stemwood per annum. During this period, felling volumes covered an average of 92 per cent of Finland’s sustained yield by 2023, with the annual level ranging from 86 to 96 per cent. Some four fifths of the potential have been felled in Finland’s three northernmost regions, while the corresponding figure is 96 per cent in the regions to the south of this area.
• In 2023, removals were 11.2 million cubic metres below the estimated felling potential in the whole of Finland which means that 86 per cent of the potential was used. Based on the preliminary data, removals were below the estimated potential in all regions.

Total drain

• As a result of the reduction in felling, total drain decreased to 82.3 million cubic metres. The total drain comprises stemwood removals and in total 14 million cubic metres of stemwood of logging residues and naturally died stemwood left in forests. 
• Based on the National Forest Inventory, the annual increment of the growing stock totals 103 million cubic metres. This means that the total volume of growing stock increased by approximately 21 million cubic metres.

Background information on the statistics

The data presented herein are preliminary. The preliminary data for 2023 also include regional data for the first time that are calculated without any owner group division. The publication date for final data is presented in the release calendar of Luke’s statistics.

Press release here