Continued high felling in 2022

Nyhet | Statistik - 08 June 2023

The Swedish felling remained high in 2022 and amounted to just under 96 million cubic meters standing volume according to preliminary statistics from the Swedish Forest Agency. The annual Swedish felling has been at a record level two years in a row, with the exception of 2005 and 2007 following the storms Gudrun and Per.

According to the Swedish Forest Agency's preliminary statistics, the gross felling in 2022 amounted to 95.8 million cubic meters standing volume. It is close to the felling in 2021, which amounted to 96.0 million cubic meters standing volume. The annual fellings in 2021 and 2022 have been the highest so far if one disregards the years 2005 and 2007 when the fellings were particularly high due to the storms Gudrun and Per.

The harvest of pulpwood increased

The net felling, which consists of the harvested volume of all tree trunks that are fully or partially removed, amounted to 77.1 million cubic meters (m3sub) in 2022. Just under half of the net felling consisted of saw logs from conifers, 42 per cent of pulpwood, 8 per cent of firewood and a few per cent of other wood.

Compared to 2021, the felling of saw logs from conifers is estimated to have decreased by 3 per cent, the felling of pulpwood increased by 3 per cent and firewood increased by 2 per cent.

Exports of harvested roundwood increased sharply

Just under 3 per cent of the Swedish harvest was exported in 2022. Exports increased sharply in 2022, from 1.2 million cubic meters in 2021 to a preliminary 2.0 million cubic meters in 2022.

In 2022, imports of roundwood amounted to a preliminary 6.5 million cubic meters, which is about 0.1 million cubic meters more than the year before.

About 68 per cent of the volume comes from final felling

About 68 per cent of the harvested volume comes from final felling, 22 per cent from thinning and the rest from other types of fellings. About 35 per cent of the harvested volume comes from Götaland, 33 per cent from Svealand and 32 per cent from Norrland.

The average felling volume during the period 2017–2021 was 259 cubic meters standing volume per hectare in final felling and 72 cubic meters standing volume per hectare in thinning.

On average, the final felling area was 251,000 hectares and the thinning area was 290,000 hectares per year during the period 2017–2021. In comparison with the period 2016–2020, the final felling area have increased 9 per cent and the thinning area have decreased 5 per cent. Removal of branches and tree tops for energy purposes was made on 33 per cent of the final felling area.

Spruce makes up more than half of the harvested volume, pine one third and broadleaves just over one tenth.

The average final felling area is 3.3 hectares

In 2021, the average final felling area for fellings larger than 0.5 hectares was 3.3 hectares. The average size of the final fellings in Northern Norrland (5.2 hectares) was more than twice the size of the average in Götaland (2.3 hectares). The average final felling area of individual forest owners is about 40 per cent less than that of other forest owners.

Information about revised statistics

As part of the work to constantly improve the quality of the statistics, the Swedish Forest Agency has revised certain parts of the annual felling statistics. The reason is an adjustment of the conversion factor between solid cubic under bark (m3s ub) and cubic meters standing volume (m3sk). The conversion factor is used for the calculation of the annual felling statistics and the adjustment has been made after a study recently carried out by the Swedish Forestry Agency and Forestry Research Institute of Sweden (Skogforsk).

Data has been revised from year 2000 in connection with this publication. The revision means that the annual gross felling reported in the unit m3sk has decreased by 1 per cent in comparison with previously published statistics. The total net felling and the net felling divided by assortment reported in the unit m3s ub are not affected by the revision.

Explanations

Gross felling: Total harvested trunk volume, including trunks not removed from the forest. Measured in cubic meters standing volume (m3sk) which means the trunk volume above the stump including top and bark but excluding branches.

Net felling: Total harvested trunk volume above the stump excluding not removed felled whole trees, tops, bark and not removed trunk parts. Expressed in solid cubic meters under bark (m3s ub) which refers to the trunk volume except bark, top and branches.

The statistics are part of the Official Statistics of Sweden.