Stocks of timber along the forest road side.

Reduced timber stocks in September

Nyhet | Statistik - 01 November 2022

Timber stocks were 16 percent lower on September 30 than they were in June, according to the Swedish Forest Agency's inventory survey. The decrease is due to reduced stocks of pulpwood and pulp chips. The stocks of softwood saw logs have increased slightly.

Compared with the latest survey on June 30, the total stock of softwood saw logs increased by 1 percent in the autumn to 2.9 million cubic meters. About a third of the stock were located by road and the rest by industry or in the terminal.

Stocks of pulpwood have continued to decline since last spring and were at 3.7 million cubic meters on 30 September, down 26 percent since 30 June.

The majority of the pulpwood stocks consist of softwood pulpwood, and they amounted to 2.7 million cubic meters. This is a decrease of just over 1 million cubic meters, equivalent to a 29 per cent drop since June. Even stocks of spruce pulpwood have decreased while those of hardwood pulpwood are unchanged.

As with the stocks of softwood saw logs, about a third of the pulpwood stocks were located by road and the rest by industry or in the terminal.

Regional differences

Stocks of softwood saw logs have decreased during the autumn in balance area 1. In balance areas 3 and 4, on the other hand, stocks have increased while they are largely unchanged in balance area 2.

Stocks of pulpwood have decreased in all balance areas

Explanation

The cubic metre referred to is m3f ub, solid cubic metres without bark.

Wood balance regions (WBR)

  1. Västernorrland, Västerbotten, Norrbotten and Jämtland counties (exclusive Härjedalen municipality)
  2. Stockholm, Uppsala, Gotland, Västmanland, Dalarna and Gävleborg counties and Härjedalen municipality.
  3. Västra Götaland (exclusive Ale, Lerum, Vårgårda, Bollebygd, Tranemo, Lilla Edet, Mark, Svenljunga, Herrljunga, Vänersborg, Trollhättan, Alingsås, Borås and Ulricehamn municipalities), Värmland and Örebro counties and Habo and Mullsjö municipalities.
  4. Södermanland, Östergötland, Jönköping (exclusive Habo and Mullsjö municipalities), Kronoberg, Kalmar, Blekinge, Skåne och Halland counties and the municipalities of Ale, Lerum, Vårgårda, Bollebygd, Tranemo, Lilla Edet, Mark, Svenljunga, Herrljunga, Vänersborg, Trollhättan, Alingsås, Borås and Ulricehamn).

The survey is part of the Official Statistics of Sweden.

All results are found in our Statistical database.

Contact

Stocks at end of quarter

Source: Swedish Forest Agency

Logotype Official Statistics of Sweden

As of 2022, the survey has been expanded for a more complete accounting of stocks of softwood saw logs by road. This means that comparisons with stocks for previous years in the case of coniferous saw logs should be made with extreme caution. We estimate that the extension corresponds to about 300,000 m3f ub of softwood saw logs.

Subscribe to statistical news