The enlargement of the EU has boosted its growing timber stock and roundwood production by more than 30% and sawn timber output by nearly 20%, according to a report from the Timber Trade Federation.
The latest TTF “Timber Topics” bulletin reports that the 10 countries that joined the EU on May 1 have a total of 4.5 billion m[sup]3[/sup] of growing stock, taking the Union’s total to 17.9 billion m[sup]3[/sup]. The biggest timber growers among the new members are Poland, with 1.8 billion m[sup]3[/sup], and the Czech Republic with 0.7 billion m[sup]3[/sup].
The acceding countries produce around 86 million m[sup]3[/sup] of roundwood, compared to the existing EU states’ 264 million m[sup]3[/sup].
The combined sawn timber output of the newcomers is 15.7 million m[sup]3[/sup], as against 79.7 million m[sup]3[/sup] in the rest of the EU. Around two-thirds of this is produced by three countries: Poland, Latvia and the Czech Republic. And the biggest exporters of sawn timber are the last two countries and Estonia.
Wood-based panels production in the 10 states is running at 8.7 million m[sup]3[/sup] – with Poland accounting for 60% of this – against a total for the rest of the EU of 45.5 million m[sup]3[/sup].
Public ownership of forests in the acceding states is higher than in the old EU, but varies widely between them. In Poland 83% of forestry is still state owned, whereas in Slovenia the figure is just 30%.
