Finland’s forest industry product exports increased by 16% in 2021
April 11, 2022
Finland’s 2021 export value of forest industry products totalled Euro 13.1 billion and increased by 16% from the previous year in real terms. Compared with the previous ten-year average, exports were, however, only 2% higher (deflated using the wholesale price index). Paperboard passed paper as the most important export product, covering a quarter of the total export value of the forest industries, while paper remained at 22%. Pulp and sawn goods covered both a fifth, as Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) reported.
In the wood-products industries, exports increased by 42% from the previous year to Euro 3.9 billion. Sawn goods had the highest export value out of all products in the wood-products industries. A total of 8.7 million cubic metres of sawn goods were exported, with an export value of Euro 2.6 billion. The exports volume increased by 6% but due to high export prices, value increased over a half. For plywood both the export price and value increased by 15%.
The most important export countries for the forest industries were Germany (13% share of exports value), China (10%) and the UK (8%).
In 2021, Finland’s wood imports totalled 12.7 million m3 and remained unchanged from the previous year. Of wood imports, pulpwood accounted for 54% and chips 35%. Fuelwood, preserved wood and wood residues combined made up 8% and logs 3%. The import volume of pulpwood increased by 2% from the previous year, while that of wood chips remained at the same level. Log imports decreased by a fifth.
In the pulp and paper industries exports increased by 8% year-on-year to Euro 9.3 billion. Of the total value was paperboard Euro 3.3 billion, paper Euro 2.9 billion and pulp Euro 2.6 billion. The most exported product of pulp and paper industries was bleached sulphate pulp, which export value increased by a fair fifth to Euro 2.1 billion. The exports volume however decreased by 1% and was 3.7 tons. Second exported was multi-ply paperboard coated with kaolin and paperboard coated with plastic with Euro 2 billion (+3 from previous year) and third magazine paper Euro 1.2 billion (+4% from previous year).