The Finnish Forest Industries Federation says sawn timber production has run at a high level despite poor profitability in the second quarter.
Production stood at 3.5 million m3 – around the same level as in 2001. During the first half, 6.9 million m3 of sawn timber was produced – about 1% less than in the previous year.
Owing to the new capacity, plywood production increased during the second quarter by 6% over the same period last year. It reached 325,000m3 – a record level for any single quarter.
The Federation says that during the second quarter, economic development in the forest industry’s main markets overall was weaker than expected.
Growth was appreciably slower in both the US and Europe resulting in low demand for forest industry products which, in turn, kept production down.
