Senior representatives of the UK Forest Products Association (UKFPA) met the minister at the Scottish Parliament.
They told him that the continuing low level of commercial conifer planting was of concern.
Opposition to forestry expansion from agricultural interests was also discussed, with the UKFPA arguing that the government could encourage farmers and other landowners to consider forestry crops.
UKFPA executive director David Sulman said with production from Scottish forests set to peak within a decade, it was all the more important that there was an "appropriate focus" on commercial conifer forestry.
"The [wood-processing] sector has an excellent record of continuing investment, but unless there is greater confidence in the future of wood supply, this confidence will start to ebb away,which can only have negative consequences," he said.
