Total roundwood removals and drain by region, 2017

In 2017, a total of 72.4 million cubic metres of roundwood was harvested from Finnish forests, three per cent more than in the previous year. This was the third consecutive year in which the harvesting volume increased by more than two million cubic metres, and the total harvesting volume was the highest ever.
Of the total roundwood removals, 63.3 million cubic metres, or 87 per cent, consisted of logs and pulpwood harvested for forest industry’s raw material. The industrial roundwood removals increased by 1.1 million cubic metres from the previous year and exceeded the annual average of the previous ten-year period by 9.1 million cubic metres, or 17 per cent.
The remainder, 9.2 million cubic metres, consisted of energy wood, i.e. stemwood to be used as fuelwood in residential housing or as wood chips in heat and power plants. The volume of fuelwood was re-investigated after nine years, and it was 1.1 million cubic metres higher than before. The volume of stemwood processed into wood chips remained at the previous year’s level.
According to Luke, the maximum sustainable stemwood felling potential of Finnish forests is now estimated at almost 85 million cubic metres of industrial and energy wood per annum. According to roundwood removal statistics, 86 per cent of this potential was used in 2017.
The most recent regional estimates of felling potential were calculated for the period 2011–2020 on the basis of measurements made in 2009–2013 for the National Forest Inventory. They indicate that there are considerable regional variations in the felling volumes, and the 2017 felling volumes exceeded the felling potential in Kanta-Häme, Päijät-Häme, Kymenlaakso, South Karelia and Pohjois-Savo. However, exceeding the felling potential for a few years will not compromise the sustainability of wood production, if the average felling volumes of the period are smaller than the sustainable felling volumes for the period.
Last year, the roundwood drain was also a record-high, more than 87 million cubic metres. The total drain comprises roundwood removals, as well as stemwood of logging residue left in the forest plus naturally died stemwood. However, the volume of standing trees increased by approximately 110 million cubic metres, so the total volume of growing stock increased by more than 20 million cubic metres.
Roundwood harvests