The global economic downturn put the squeeze on the Finnish forest products sector in the first three quarters of the year.
According to the latest figures from the Finnish Forest Industries Federation, the industry’s overall output was down 5% on the same period in 2000. What is more, the situation was clearly worsening as the year wore on, with total industry production in the third quarter falling 12% lower than the same time the year before.
Sawngoods business was still showing growth at the beginning of the year, after rising 5.5% in 2000 to 13.3 million m3. However, sales tailed off quickly after the summer and total production for January to September was 3% down at 9.5 million m3. And the fall in the third quarter was actually more severe than in the forest industry overall, with FFIF figures showing a 16% drop on the same three months in 2000 at 2.53 million m3.
According to the Federation, the industry was also hit by competition from central Europe and Russia, which put pressure on prices and, consequently, profitability and log availability were also poor.
One, relative bright spot was plywood production which was at the same level as 2000, both in the first three quarters and the third quarter (at 850,000m3 and 250,000m3). The figure for the year is also forecast to be up to the previous 12 months’ level of 1.2 million m3, which represented an 8% increase on 1999.
The country’s national certification system, the FFCS, now covers 95% of Finnish forests, a total of 22 million ha. Developed with the input of ‘economic, social and environmental stakeholders’, the FFIF says the scheme has proved practical and trustworthy.
Now, however, the Forest Stewardship Council is developing its own certification system for the country, and the two schemes have already had a number of confrontations. The FSC’s supporters have criticised the FFCS scheme for not giving adequate protection to the forest resource, notably old growth areas, and for overall being too commercially driven. The FFCS camp says that establishing a second, parallel certification system will lead to more costs ‘which the markets are unwilling to meet’. In particular, they say that the extra costs and pressures imposed by the FSC scheme will pose problems for the smaller forest owners.
As a solution, the FFCS scheme has invited the FSC to sit in on the update of its system, which is under way, with a view to co-ordinating the two schemes.
