Increase in notified area for final felling in December

Nyhet | Statistik - 19 January 2021

In December 2020 the area of notifications and applications for permits for final felling increased by 33 percent, compared with December 2019, according to new statistics from the Swedish Forest Agency. The area of applications for permits for final felling in montane forests was more than five times larger than December last year.

The total area of ​​applications and notifications in December for the whole country amounted to 22 475 hectares, which is 33 percent more than in December 2019.

Larger areas in both normal forest and montane forest

Notifications of final felling in so-called normal forest (forest that is not montane or broad-leaved forest) amounted to 20 137 hectares, which is an increase of 27 percent compared with December 2019.

The application for permits for final felling in montane forest amounted to 1 740 hectares, which is just over five times more than December 2019.

Table 1. Area of notifications and applications for final felling permits for the whole country, hectares.

Notification and application	November 2019	November 2020	Change
Normal forest
Notifications for final felling	15 897	20 137	27%
Notifications for felling for other purposes than forestry	486	521	7%
Montane forest
Applications for permit of final felling	338	1 740	415%
Application for permit of felling for other purpose than forestry	25	11	-56%
Valuable broad leaved forest
Applications for permit of final felling	190	58	-69%
Application for permit of felling for other purpose than forestry	2	8	227%
Total area notified and applied for	16 939	22 475	33%
Total area notified and applied for excluding montane forest	16 576	20 724	25%

Particularly large increase in Southern Norrland

Notified area in December 2020 increased by 83 percent in Southern Norrland and by 44 percent in Götaland, compared with December 2019. Also in Svealand, the notified area increased, but by a more moderate 16 percent, while it decreased by 7 percent in Northern Norrland.

At county level, the notified area increased in 16 of 21 counties

During December, the increase was greatest in Halland County (178 per cent) and Jämtland County (161 per cent), followed by Kronoberg County (116 per cent) and Stockholm County (93 per cent). We find the largest decrease in Gotland County (-77 percent) and Uppsala County (-24 percent).

Decrease by two percent in 2020

In 2020, 267 360 hectares of forest were preliminarily notified for final felling, which is 2 per cent less than in 2019. In montane forests, however, the area on which forest owners applied for final felling increased to 14 321 hectares, which is close to five times as much as 2019.

At county level, notified and applied area increased in 2020 in 11 of 21 counties. Värmland County accounts for the largest increase (11 percent), while Stockholm County accounts for the largest decrease (22 percent).

On February 23, we will publish final figures on notifications and applications for the full year 2020.

Statistics refer to total notifications and applications for permission in productive forest land for final felling in montane forest and valuable broad-leaved forest.

The survey is part of Official Statistics of Sweden.