Costs in large-scale forestry
Swedish Forest Agency and Skogforsk have been carrying out a joint survey of forestry costs and revenues in the large-scale forestry since 1996. The cost data refers to logging, silviculture and forest road measures in large-scale forestry.
The statistics cover the costs incurred by large-scale forestry operations for various silvicultural activities on their own forest land. Statistics on harvesting costs also include operations on forest land owned by others.
Here, large-scale forestry is defined as ownership of more than 16,000 hectares of forest land or an annual harvest exceeding 50,000 cubic metres solid volume under bark. The survey includes approximately 80 of the largest forest owners and timber-purchasing companies. Together, these entities manage around 11 million hectares of productive forest land in Sweden.
Regeneration felling refers to harvesting carried out with the purpose of establishing a new forest through planting, sowing, or natural regeneration.
Thinning refers to the removal of trees from a stand, while utilizing the harvested timber, in order to improve stand development.
Cost estimates are area-weighted or volume-weighted averages and are presented for northern Sweden, southern Sweden, and the country as a whole. The statistics include both current prices and inflation-adjusted prices, making it possible to study long-term cost trends.
The survey provides official statistics on the costs of forestry operations in Sweden’s large-scale forestry sector. It has been conducted by the Swedish Forest Agency (Skogsstyrelsen), with cost statistics on forestry operations available since the 1950s and harvesting cost statistics since 1981. The results are part of Sweden’s Official Statistics and are used in economic analyses, national accounts, and international reporting.
Our statistical database contains statistics from Swedish Forest Agency. Produce a table by selecting your subject and variables.
Costs for felling
Costs for regeneration felling
In 2025, the average cost for regeneration felling for the entire country was 144 SEK per cubic metre solid under bark (m3s ub) in current prices, an increase of 59 percent since the start of the statistics in 1996.When taking inflation into account, there was a marginal decrease in in the cost during the same period in fixed prices. You can read more on inflation and costs below.
Costs for regeneration felling remained relatively unchanged until the storm Gudrun in 2005 when the costs rose sharply in southern Sweden. From 2008, costs for regeneration felling have been higher in northern Sweden than in southern Sweden. The costs have increased every year since 2017.
The costs for regeneration felling also include the cost of extraction of wood to the roadside and overhead costs. Overhead costs refer to costs shared by several harvesting sites, like transporting machinery. The costs are volume weighted averages for felling.
Costs for thinning
During 2024 the cost for thinning was on average for the entire country, 287 SEK per m3s ub. Since the thinned trees are smaller and the felled volume per hectare is lower, the cost per cubic metre is almost twice as high for thinning compared to regeneration felling.
The costs for thinning remained relatively unchanged until 2006 and were approximately 150 SEK per m3s ub. After that, the costs increased by 50 SEK per m³s ub during the period 2006 until 2012.
Following this, costs for thinning increased by 20 SEK per m³s ub during the period 2012-2020. In general, costs for thinning have been somewhat lower in northern Sweden than in southern Sweden but during the last few year costs have been higher in northern Sweden. The costs for thinning also have a more consistent development than the cost for regeneration felling, the latter varying more from one year to another.
The costs for thinning include felling, extraction to roadside, and overhead costs (all to roadside). Similarly to the costs for regeneration felling, the costs for thinning refers to a volume weighted average, including costs for felling of forest damaged by storms or fire.
Cost for non clear cut forestry and fellings due to natural disasters
Since 2021, the cost of felling in continuous cover forestry has also been surveyed. Non clearcut forestry is managed so that there is a continuous tree cover without any larger patches of clearcuts. In 2025, non clearcut forestry fellings cost an average of SEK 252 SEK per m3s ub. This estimate is therefore closer to the cost of thinning than to that of regeneration felling.
In addition, statistics are also kept on the costs of fellings due to natural disasters, which refers to the costs of fellings in forests damaged by storms, fire, insects or fungi. It cost on average SEK 242 per m³f ub to harvest the damaged forest in 2025.
Costs in relation to inflation
In figure 4 there is a conversion to fixed prices using the CPI, to the price level of 1996. The costs for regeneration felling had a downward trend until the storm of 2005 and costs for thinning until 2007, after adjusting for inflation. In 2008 and 2009 the costs for thinning increased without a corresponding increase in costs for regeneration felling. The costs for regeneration felling in 2025 are, despite periods of decline and increase, marginally lower than 1996 in fixed prices.
Costs for felling can be put in relation to the other price trends in the economy to better take inflation into account. In table 5 you will find three index series for comparison.
- Consumer Price Index (CPI) which is the official measure of inflation.
- Producer Price Index (PPI) which shows the average price trend at the producer and import stage, in the figure below only for the production of goods.
- Producer Price Index home sales (HMPI) which measures the price development of products produced by Swedish companies for sale in Sweden (the figure below only refers to industry and production of minerals excluding food production).
The base year for the three different index series is 1996. The average for all felling in current prices is also added after being indexed with the same base year. The two different index series that measure prices at the producer level have a greater increase than the consumer price index and the costs for felling from 1996 to 2025.
Costs for silvicultural measures and pre-commercial thinning
During 2025 most costs for silviculture also increased. The costs for:
- clear-cut cleaning increased by 8 percent to SEK 2 250 per hectare
- scarification has increased by 15 percent to SEK 3 770 per hectare
- planting (including plants) has increased marginally to SEK 7 520 per hectare
- sowing has increased by 1 percent to SEK 6 440 per hectare
- supplementary planting has decreased by 12 percent to SEK 4 600 per hectare
- precommercial thinning has increased by 7 percent to SEK 3 860 per hectare
- fertilization and liming have decreased by 6 percent to SEK 3 190 per hectare
The trend is upward for most silvicultural activities, but some show a bit more variation over time. Like prescribed clear-cutting burns, fertilization and liming, supplementary planting and sowing. However these are less common silvicultural activities compared to cleaning, scarification etc.
Costs for forest roads
The Swedish Forest Agency and Skogforsk also survey the costs of newly constructed forest roads and their maintenance. The reported costs are related to volume of sold roundwood. Costs may vary somewhat on a yearly basis, but the longer trend shows rising costs per cubic metre since 2004 for maintenance and from 2007 for new investments. During the most recent 10 years, the costs for new investments have increased by 75 percent and for the maintenance of forest roads by 220 percent.