Documentation of statistics wood consumption

General description of the statistics

The statistics include annual data on the wood volumes consumed in the manufacture of forest industry products and the generation of energy in Finland. Statistical data are presented in more detail per location of use and as total wood consumption in all uses. The data are used in monitoring the consumption of wood. 

The statistics consist of the following thematic areas

• Forest industries’ wood consumption, including also wood consumed in wood pellet production and small sawmills
• Wood in energy generation, heating and power plants
• Wood in energy generation, small-scale housing

Preliminary statistics are published in spring and final statistics in autumn. The statistical data can be published separately per location of use for wood on dates indicated in the Natural Resources Institute Finland’s (Luke) statistics publication calendar. The data included in preliminary statistics can be specified at later dates before the publication of final statistical data. Any changes in data will be indicated in conjunction with published data. 

Classifications

Data on total wood consumption are presented separately for roundwood as well as by-products and residues per region starting from 2015. Data until 2014 are available divided into the regions of the Finnish Forest Centre. 

Roundwood includes logs and pulpwood consumed by the Finnish forest industries, as well as roundwood consumed in energy generation. In addition, roundwood includes imported chips and sawdust, as this wood is imported for first use by Finland’s forest industries and its volumes have not previously been included in roundwood consumption figures. 

The category of by-products and residues includes by-products generated in Finnish forest industry production (industrial chips, sawdust and bark) and forest residues (logging residues and stumps). The category also includes recycled wood and wood pellets.

Wood consumption data are also presented in more detail per location of use. Forest industries’ wood consumption data are published by assortment, origin, region (divided into the regions of the Finnish Forest Centre until 2014), and forest industry sector. Since 2015, regional data have been presented without being divided according to the origin of roundwood for data protection reasons. Smaller sawmills’ wood consumption data, based on a sample survey, are available included in the forest industries’ wood consumption data. 

Data on the domestic production volumes of wood pellets are presented in thousands of tonnes (1,000 t). In addition, the wood volumes consumed as raw material in pellet production are included in the wood volume consumed by the forest industries (measured in cubic metres). In the data of wood consumption by branch, pellet production is included in the other wood products industry. Delivery data based on domestic production are divided into pellet volumes delivered to households and farms (small-scale users), as well as heat and power plants and large buildings (large users). 

Data on the use of wood as energy are presented by wood fuel type, region (divided into the regions of the Finnish Forest Centre until 2014) and location of use (plant type). Statistical data on the use of wood as energy are presented separately for heating and power plants. In addition, data on the consumption of fuelwood in small-scale housing are published by fuelwood and tree species, and property, building and fireplace type.

Coverage

Wood consumption consists of the wood consumed in the production of forest industry products and wood fuels consumed in energy generation. Statistical data are mainly collected from companies by calendar year during January–February using various statistical surveys. The survey register is updated based on media monitoring, for example, to ensure that the statistics cover, as exhaustively as possible, all parties that consume solid wood for various purposes.

The consumption of wood by forest industries is largely based on data collected by the Finnish Forest Industries Federation from its members that Luke supplements with data collected from other forest industry operators. The statistics cover some 160 companies or their locations. Data are collected per calendar year so that they can be obtained from all significant users of wood. 

Forest industries’ wood consumption data are supplemented by smaller sawmills, which are identified through separate sample surveys. The most recent survey was conducted by the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) for 2008–2010. At the time, some 1,200 smaller sawmills operated in Finland, and the survey’s target group and data source included sawmill entrepreneurs or owners. Data collected through a separate survey remain unchanged in the statistics until the next survey. 

From the statistical reference year 2022 onwards, forest industries’ wood consumption also includes the volumes of wood used in the production of various biofuels and bio-refined products. The use is included in the pulp industry and other wood products industry, as the limited number of operators means that the data cannot be published as a separate category. Until the statistical year 2021, these data were only collected for total wood use figures, where they were included in energy production.

The population of the statistics on wood pellet production cover all known wood pellet producers in Finland, from which data are collected annually through Luke’s statistical survey. The survey is used to collect data from companies about domestic production volumes. The number of producers operating in the sector is indicated in conjunction with the statistical publication. In addition, data on production volumes and raw materials are used in statistics on the consumption of raw materials in pellet production as included in forest industries’ wood consumption.

The population of the statistics on the consumption of wood in energy generation at heat and power plants consists of all significant heat and power plants in industries and energy generation that use solid wood fuels in their generation of energy. In addition to actual energy generation plants, the statistics cover other units that consume solid wood fuels, including chip drying plants, meat curing plants and lime kilns. They also include data on the consumption of wood fuels in small-scale heat plants operated by heat service providers and in large buildings, as well as the consumption of energywood in greenhouses. 

The statistics cover a total of around 1400-1500 heat and power plants. The larger plants dominate the statistics, with the 400 largest plants accounting for more than 95% of annual solid wood fuels consumption.

Natural Resources Institute Finland collects annual data on use from around 700 plants. Data are collected annually from all the major plants burning at least about 1300 cubic metres of wood per year. For the smallest sites, data are collected every third year and there are about 150 such plants in total. Each year, one third of these plants are included in the data collection. 

The amount of wood consumed in energy production by horticultural enterprises is collected every three years in Luke's Horticultural Enterprise Register Questionnaire. During the intermediate years, the data remain unchanged in the statistics on wood energy use. In total, horticultural enterprises have about 200 wood-burning heat plants. 

In collecting data on wood fuel use in heat and power plants, the Natural Resources Institute Finland cooperates with the TTS Työtehoseura, which collects data from plants operated by heating entrepreneurs as part of a project focusing on monitoring and developing heating entrepreneurship. In total, there are more than 200 heat entrepreneurs in Finland, operating just under 600 installations. TTS collects data on an annual basis by asking each installation every three years for information on solid wood fuel consumption. TTS provides the use data to the Natural Resources Institute Finland, while also updating the plant register of statistics.

Statistical data on energywood volumes consumed in small-scale housing are based on a sample survey conducted roughly every ten years by Luke and Statistics Finland, in which data are primarily provided by people living in residential buildings and secondarily by their owners. The statistics also cover wood consumed in farm production, apart from greenhouse enterprises that are included in heating and power plants.

The sample framework is the building and apartment database of Statistics Finland (Population Register Centre). Data collection and the statistics concern built small-scale houses.  Regarding free-time residences, data are collected from their owners, because no separate data on residents or holders are available. The survey covers the whole of Finland which is also mainly used as the presentation area for results. However, target buildings are determined by municipality, as a result of which results are also published by region.

The strata and their building stocks used in the survey on the consumption of fuelwood in small-scale housing.

In the most recent survey on the consumption of fuelwood in small-scale housing, the framework consisted of a total of 1.03 million detached houses, 137,000 two-family houses, 401,000 terraced houses, and 514,000 free-time residences. These were used to form a total sample of 10,000 units, in which the ratio varied by stratum. The selections were made as stratified systematic random sampling, which verified the even distribution of the sample throughout the population.

Stratum-specific weights were used in calculating the results for the whole of Finland. The most recent dataset consisted of roughly 4,100 responses, of which 3,700 were collected for the actual dataset through a mailed questionnaire or web form, and roughly 400 by interviewing non-respondents by telephone.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Roundwood means either domestic or imported wood that has been obtained from forests by means of felling and has not been processed industrially. Roundwood includes primary roundwood: logs and pulpwood consumed by the industries, and roundwood consumed in energy generation. In addition, roundwood includes imported roundwood chips and sawdust, as their volumes have not been previously included in roundwood consumption figures. Volumes are presented in solid cubic metres with bark.

Roundwood consumed in energy generation includes pruned and unpruned stems, large-sized timber and pulpwood consumed both in heating and power plants and in small-scale housing. 

The category of by-products and residues includes by-products generated in Finnish forest industry production (industrial chips, sawdust and bark) and forest residues consumed in energy generation (logging residues and stumps). The category also includes recycled wood and wood pellets.

Forest industries’ wood consumption covers all significant parties that consume wood in their industrial production. The sawmill industry has been divided into two size categories in the statistics: Industrial sawmills are larger, and their annual roundwood consumption is more than 10,000 cubic metres. Smaller sawmills are sawmill enterprises or entrepreneurs, whose annual wood consumption reaches no higher than 10,000 cubic metres. They include small local commercial sawmills, disc saws used at farms, as well as portable sawmills providing sawmill services.

In the statistics on forest industries’ wood consumption, different types of roundwood (assortments) are divided into logs and pulpwood based on dimension and quality requirements set for timber. Pulpwood also includes small logs and blocks that do not meet the dimension and quality requirements set for logs. 

Chips and dust (sawdust and cutter dust) consumed by the forest industries constitute wood product industry by-products that are used in the manufacturing of wood pulp, particle and fibre boards, and wood pellets. In addition, volumes are presented in solid cubic metres per bark grade in accordance with average values. The volumes of chips and dust are not summed up with roundwood (first use of wood) in the statistics. With regard to the second use of wood, roundwood is reused, and these volumes are already included in the consumption of roundwood. The origin of chips and dust generated as forest industry by-products cannot be recorded separately in statistics in Finland, which is why they are classified as domestic wood. 

The use of wood as energy consists of solid wood fuels consumed at heating and power plants, in small-scale housing and on farms. In the statistics, heat plants are establishments that burn various energy sources and produce heat either locally or for the heating network. Power plants are usually combined production facilities that generate electricity in addition to heat.

Here, solid wood fuels include forest chips, forest industry by-products and logging residues, and other solid wood fuels, such as recycled wood and wood pellets, all of which can be either domestic or imported. The origin of wood fuels is not identified in consumption statistics, but the use of imported wood as energy is estimated in the statistics based on foreign trade and wood consumption statistics.

Forest industry by-products and logging residues include the following fractions in the statistics on the use of wood as energy:

• Industrial chips or hog fuel: chips and hog fuel made from by-products of the sawmill industry or other wood product industry (e.g. veneer and other wood panel industry, and carpentry industry).
• Sawdust: dust generated during sawing or other wood processing.
• Cutter chips, grinding dust, etc.: plane and cutter chips, other chips and dust, and grinding dust generated in timber planing or other wood processing.
• Bark: debarking residues generated in sawing or other wood processing.
• Other industrial residues: unidentified mixtures of industrial residues, etc.

Forest chips consist of wood chips or hog fuel, which can be made using any wood obtained from forests, including roundwood, tops, branches, needles, leaves, stumps and rootstocks. Forest chips are divided into raw materials as follows:

Forest chips made from roundwood: 

• Pruned stemwood: chips made from pruned small-diameter roundwood (stem chips). Normally, these stems are felled from regenerated stands or young thinning forests, or they are pruned from the logging residues of such sites. This category also includes pruned tops of pulpwood obtained from clear-cutting sites and other pruned small-diameter trees.
• Unpruned small-sized trees, or whole trees: chips made from all aboveground parts of trees (stems, branches, needles) that are usually made from small-diameter roundwood generated during pre-commercial thinning or young forest thinning/regeneration. This category also includes chipped whole trees obtained from the sides of roads and ditches, fields, road lines, plots, etc.
• Pulpwood: delimbed and cut pulpwood based on the pulp industry’s dimensions; originally intended for the pulp industry but used in energy generation.
• Large-sized timber: chips made from defective or dead large-sized roundwood felled during harvesting which is not eligible as forest industry raw material (e.g. logs). This category includes large-sized roundwood with decayed butts.

The above classification is used in the collection of statistical data. In the published statistics, pruned stemwood, whole wood and pulpwood are combined into one small wood category.

Forest chips made from forest residues:

• Logging residues or hog fuel: chips made from logging or forest residues. Logging residues mainly include wood generated during clear-cutting and remaining in forests, such as branches and tops, leaves and needles (branch and top residues), and individual rejected logs left in the area. This category also includes unpruned tops of pulpwood harvested at clear-cutting sites for use as wood chips. Chipped wood can consist of separate parts of wood, or it can be made from bundled brushwood or logging residues.
• Hog fuel from stumps: chips or hog fuel made from stumps and rootstocks. Since 2020, this category has no longer included moor wood or stumps dug from the ground during peat extraction, as these are now classified as peat fuel.

Other forest chips:

• Other raw material not stated or identified above. This category includes energywood species grown for use as energy by means of short rotation forestry, such as willow grown for use as energy.

Other solid wood fuels used in the statistics include:

• Recycled wood: clean residues classified as biofuel or discarded wood or wooden products which do not contain any plastic coating, halogenated organic compounds or heavy metals. This category includes wood waste from new buildings, and wooden pallets and packaging.
• Wood pellets and bricks: compressed wooden products made mainly from sawdust, cutter chips or grinding dust. This category also includes pellets and bricks made from various forest chips.
• Data on the use of dismantled wood classified as waste or impregnated wood are not included in the statistics.

If a solid wood fuel reported by a data provider cannot clearly be included in any of the categories above in the statistics on the use of wood as energy, the volume will be recorded as other solid wood fuel. In most cases, volumes included in this category comprise unidentified industrial residues, from which the proportion of different raw materials cannot be reliably determined. 

Statistical unit

Wood consumption in Finland consists of the consumption of wood raw materials in the manufacturing of forest industry products and in energy generation. Data for the statistics are compiled based on data on the consumption of wood by forest industry companies, heating and power plants and pellet producers that are mainly collected annually. In addition, data on other uses of wood in the production of biofuels and processed products are collected for the wood consumption statistics.  From the statistical year 2022 onwards, the volumes are included in the forest industries’ wood consumption figures. Until 2021, they were included in the figures for energy generation. 

The dataset is supplemented by means of separate sample surveys regarding the consumption of wood by smaller sawmills and fuelwood consumed in small-scale housing.

Population of the statistics

Data on the wood raw material consumed in the forest industries’ production operations are collected annually from all operators that consume more than 10,000 solid cubic metres of wood per year. In addition, the consumption of wood by smaller sawmills is identified through a separate sample survey which has been repeated roughly every ten years.

From the statistical year 2022 onwards, the forest industries’ wood consumption statistics also include the volumes of wood used in the production of various biofuels and bio-refineries. Previously, the data were collected separately and included in the wood use figures for energy production only in the total wood consumption figures.

Data on wood pellet production and deliveries based on domestic production are collected annually from all significant pellet producers.

Data on the use of wood as energy are collected from all significant heat and power plants in industries and energy generation that use solid wood fuels in their generation of energy. Altogether, there are some 1,400 - 1,500 plants. The data on the use of wood as energy are supplemented by data on the consumption of fuelwood in small-scale housing identified through sample surveys repeated roughly every ten years. 

Measuring unit 

Wood consumption is presented in solid cubic metres with bark (m³). In addition, the data presented in cubic metres are supplemented using measuring units applicable to each use of wood, including tonnes (t) or energy content in gigawatt-hours (GWh).

Wood volumes allocated to forest industries’ wood consumption and smaller sawmills are collected and presented directly in solid cubic metres. 

Wood pellet production volumes are presented in tonnes. The volume of raw materials used in wood pellet production is estimated based on the wood pellet production of different producers, and the volumes are converted into solid cubic metres using average multipliers. 

Data on the consumption of solid wood fuels at heat and power plants and in small-scale housing are collected as volume-based units (loose cubic metre, l-m³) and/or as energy content (megawatt-hour, MWh) and presented in solid cubic metres (m³) and, in some tables, gigawatt-hours (GWh). In some cases, data are obtained as a weight unit, i.e. tonnes. Wood pellet and brick volumes are also always collected in tonnes for the statistics of the use of wood as energy. Data on the raw material distribution used in forest chips are collected in volume units, as energy content or as percentage of the total consumption of forest chips. The following multipliers are used in conversions between different units:

Chronological coverage

Wood consumption data are available starting from 1989. Data on the themes included in the statistics are available as follows:

• Forest industries’ wood consumption, 1860–
• Wood in energy generation, 2000–
• Wood pellet production, 2001–
• Wood consumption by smaller sawmills, 2010
• Fuelwood consumption in small-scale housing, heating season 1992/1993

Reference period

Calendar year

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), the Customs Act (1466/94), 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.

Release calendar

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 contains data on the dates of future publications. The publication dates are published in the calendar at first with an accuracy of one week, and two months prior to the publication date with an accuracy of a day. The calendar also contains direct links to already published statistical publication.

Release calendar access

Statistical releases calendar | Natural Resources Institute Finland

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.

Accuracy and reliability in general

The statistics cover all significant users of wood in Finland. In addition, the statistics are supplemented by separate sample surveys regarding the small-scale consumption of wood to identify the volume of fuelwood consumed in small-scale housing and the volume consumed by smaller sawmills (consumption less than 10,000 m³ per year).

The aim is to improve the reliability of the statistics, especially during the data collection stage, by comparing the collected data with previous years’ data. Average consumption volumes of production plants of forest industry companies and boiler outputs of heat and power plants are used in the comparison. The statistics on the use of wood as energy also monitor the energy density of wood fuels (MWh/l-m³ or t). If any significant deviations are identified in the data, the accuracy of the data will be verified from the data provider. 

The population of heat and power plants that use wood as energy is updated continuously using various sources. The statistics do not include heat plants that probably operate in conjunction with smaller wood product industry companies or chip and pellet heat plants of larger buildings. However, this has no significant impact on the coverage of the statistics.

In some cases, energy plants use industrial chips, dust and bark as various purchased wood fuel mixtures. Dividing them into actual wood fuel fractions may be subject to estimates in certain situations. However, if there are no obvious grounds for such a division, full volumes are recorded in the category of other solid wood fuels.

Estimates of the consumption of imported chips at heating and power plants are calculated as a difference between the volume of imported chips obtained from the forest industries’ foreign trade statistics and the volume of imported chips indicated in the statistics on forest industries’ wood consumption. The calculation assumes that any excess volume has been used in energy generation as forest chips. This assumption is supported by the fact that the volumes of using forest industry chips as energy have remained relatively stable almost throughout the statistical period.

In addition, data on the use of wood as energy include experimental statistics on calculated uses of imported wood. In the calculation, a default use is defined for imported wood based on the business field of the importing company, based on which volumes have been divided into three uses: energy generation, forest industries and other. In addition, the calculation uses the statistics on forest industries’ wood consumption.

Timeliness

Data on each statistical year (calendar year) are always collected during the first half of the following year and published as presented in Luke’s publication calendar. Preliminary data are published at the end of March each year.

Geographical comparability

The statistical data are published for the whole of Finland and divided between different regions in accordance with the regional division valid in each year. Data until 2014 are only available divided into the regions of the Finnish Forest Centre.

Chronological comparability

If significant changes are made in the statistical methodology, the changes will also made retroactively in data on previous years to maintain chronological comparability, unless otherwise indicated.

Uniformity across statistical areas

The wood consumption statistics are presented for the whole of Finland and as regional figures. The statistical data are compiled into regional integers based on the location of wood users.

Data on the consumption of solid wood fuels are also collected by Statistics Finland, the Ministry of the Environment, the Energy Authority, Finnish Energy, and the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities.

Luke’s statistics on wood in energy generation are the only statistics based on total datasets. The other statistics are usually limited in one way or another, including the ownership or holding of energy plants or the rated output of plants. In addition, the data collected by the other organisations are not mainly published separately by region. The definitions of wood fuels used in various statistics may differ from one another both in terms of their concepts and content. What all of the statistics have in common is that they concern the full calendar year.

If no data can be presented regarding a variable, two dots (..) will be shown in the database. This method is also used in situations where data are confidential, illogical for presentation or unavailable.

Data collection frequency

Annually, and supplemented by separate sample surveys

Data collection method

Consumption data are collected using a web form or a mailed questionnaire or by email, mainly directly from forest industry companies, pellet producers and energy industry operators. Data collection is supplemented by telephone interviews, if required.

Data on forest industry companies’ wood consumption are mainly obtained from the Finnish Forest Industries Federation, which collects the data from its member companies. Luke collects data annually about other operators that consume at least 10,000 cubic metres a year. Instead, data on wood consumption by smaller sawmills are identified through separate sample surveys conducted roughly every ten years. Luke collects data annually about wood pellet production from all domestic producers. 

Data on the use of wood as energy are collected annually from the majority of data providers by municipality based on the location of the wood-using establishment. Data are collected from some of the smallest heat plants at intervals of a few years, during which their data remain unchanged in the statistics.  Wood fuel consumed by heat plants from which data are collected less frequently than once a year accounted for 1.0 per cent of the total consumption of solid wood fuels. 

Since the statistical year of 2021, the majority of wood fuel consumption volumes concerning plants operated by heat service providers has been based on data collected by TTS. TTS collects data from heat service providers every three years. Luke further collects data at discretion from separately selected heat service providers that have several significant units that consume wood fuels or larger individual heat plants, requiring data to be collected annually.

The data on the use of wood as energy are also supplemented by data on the consumption of solid wood fuels obtained from Statistics Finland, if required. Data on the consumption of fuelwood in small-scale housing is identified through a separate sample survey conducted roughly every ten years.

Regarding total energy consumption, Luke publishes statistics compiled by Statistics Finland. 

Validation of data

The collected data are compared with previous years’ data. Any significant deviations are verified from data providers. In addition, the data on the use of wood as energy are validated based on average multipliers if the data have been provided using several different measuring units.

Processing of data

The statistical data are processed through calculations using Excel and SAS software.