The amount of homegrown timber supplied to the UK’s primary wood processors and others decreased slightly in 2002 to 7.2 million green tonnes, according to latest statistics.
The Forestry Commission‘s “Forestry Statistics 2003”, also says the UK’s total woodland area is now 2.8 million ha, with 13,500ha of new forest created in 2002-03.
Other facts include Britain being the fourth largest net importer of forest products last year, with £5.7bn of wood products imported, equivalent to 49 million m3 of timber.
China, Japan and the US were the biggest importers, while Canada, Finland and Sweden ranked as largest net exporters.
About two-thirds of adults in Britain visited woodlands in the last few years.
