## Forestry Statistics 2020 Chapter 3: Trade Release Date: 24 September 2020

Coverage: 
United Kingdom Geographical breakdown: 
None 

Issued by:  
Forest Research 231 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh, EH12 7AT 
Enquiries:    
Robert Stagg 0300 067 5238 statistics@forestresearch.gov.uk  
Statistician: 
Sheila Ward 0300 067 5236 
Website:    
www.forestresearch.gov.uk/statistics/ 

## Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................ 3 Key findings ........................................................................................ 4 
3.1 Apparent consumption of wood in the UK 
........................................... 5 
3.2 Apparent consumption of wood products in the UK 
.............................. 8 
3.3 Flow of recovered paper ................................................................. 
10 
3.4 UK import quantities by product ...................................................... 
11 
3.5 UK export quantities by product....................................................... 
13 
3.6 UK import values by product ........................................................... 
15 
3.7 UK export values by product ........................................................... 
17 
3.8 Origin of wood imports ................................................................... 
19 

## Introduction

This chapter contains information about UK imports and exports of wood products, and about the level of apparent consumption estimated from data for UK production, imports and exports. Information on imports and exports mainly comes from the Overseas Trade Statistics compiled by HM Revenue & Customs.  Estimates are provided at a UK level only. International comparisons of apparent consumption are provided in the International Forestry chapter.  Further information on the data sources and methodology used to compile the figures is provided in the Sources chapter. Figures for 2019 were previously published in "UK Wood Production and Trade: 2019 Provisional Figures", released on 14 May 2020.  Some figures for 2019 and earlier years have been revised from those previously published.  For further details on revisions, see the Trade section of the Sources chapter. A copy of all trade tables can be accessed in spreadsheet format from the Data Downloads web page at www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-andresources/statistics/data-downloads/. 


## Key Findings

The main findings are: UK imports: 

- 7.0 million cubic metres of sawnwood in 2019, a 2% decrease from the 
2018 figure;  
- 3.7 million cubic metres of wood-based panels in 2019, a 6% decrease 
from 2018;  
- 8.9 million tonnes of wood pellets in 2019, an increase of 11% from 
2018;  
- 5.2 million tonnes of paper in 2019, a 5% decrease from 2018. - The total value of wood product imports in 2019 was £8.3 billion, 
representing a 1% increase from 2018; of which £4.1 billion was pulp and paper.  
- Sawn softwood, particleboard, fibreboard, and paper and paperboard 
were overwhelmingly imported from EU countries in 2019.  
- Sawn hardwood and wood pulp imports originated from a range of both 
EU and non-EU countries in 2019.  
- The vast majority of UK imports of plywood and wood pellets in 2019 
came from countries outside the EU.  
- Apparent consumption of wood in the UK was 56.7 million m3 WRME 
underbark in 2019, representing a 1% increase from the previous year. 
UK exports: 

- The total value of wood product exports in 2019 was £1.7 billion, a 5% 
decrease from 2018; of which £1.5 billion was pulp and paper. 

## 3.1 Apparent Consumption Of Wood In The Uk

Apparent consumption is the amount of timber used as wood and wood products by people and industries in the United Kingdom.  It is calculated as total United Kingdom production plus imports, minus exports.  Apparent consumption differs from actual consumption by the extent of changes in the level of stocks.  It is not practical to collect information on actual consumption. As table 3.1 covers a broad range of products (including secondary processed wood products), volumes are expressed in wood raw material equivalent (WRME) underbark.  WRME volumes represent the amount of wood that would have been required to make the product. UK production of roundwood totalled 10.8 million m3 WRME underbark in 2019 (Table 3.1).  A further 49.9 million m3 WRME underbark of wood and wood products were imported to the UK and 3.9 million m3 WRME underbark were exported, giving apparent consumption of 56.7 million m3 WRME underbark. This represented a 1% increase in apparent consumption from the previous year.  These figures exclude recycled wood and recovered paper (see Table 3.3 for statistics on recovered paper). Imports accounted for 81% of all wood (production + imports) in the UK in 2019. 


## 

Year 
UK 
production2 
Imports 
Exports 
Apparent 
Consumption 
2010 
9.6 
41.6 
5.5 
45.8 
2011 
10.0 
40.6 
5.2 
45.5 
2012 
10.1 
39.6 
6.5 
43.2 
2013 
10.8 
42.2 
6.2 
46.8 
2014 
11.2 
47.0 
4.8 
53.4 
2015 
10.6 
49.3 
4.1 
55.8 
2016 
10.7 
49.6 
3.8 
56.5 
2017 
10.9 
50.3 
4.2 
57.0 
2018 
11.2 
49.1 
3.9 
56.3 
2019 
10.8 
49.9 
3.9 
56.7 

 
Source: Industry surveys, industry associations, UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs) and conversion factors to Wood Raw Material Equivalent (WRME). Notes: 
1. Excludes recovered paper. 2. UK production of roundwood is estimated from deliveries to wood processing industries and 

others, as in tables 2.5 and 2.6. 
Source: Industry surveys, industry associations, UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs) and conversion factors to Wood Raw Material Equivalent (WRME). Notes: 
1. Excludes recovered paper. 2. UK production of roundwood is estimated from deliveries to wood processing industries and 
others, as in tables 2.5 and 2.6. 

## 3.2 Apparent Consumption Of Wood Products In The Uk

Table 3.2 provides volumes of UK production, trade and apparent consumption in selected wood products.  It differs from table 3.1 in terms of both coverage (table 3.1 covers a wider range of wood and wood products, including secondary processed products) and in terms of units (wood raw material equivalents in table 3.1, volumes of product in table 3.2). UK production accounted for 34% of the UK sawnwood market, 50% of the UK wood-based panel market and 47% of the UK paper market in 2019 (Table 3.2). 


## 

Product 
UK 
production 
Imports 
Exports 
Apparent 
consumption 
Sawnwood3 (thousand m3) 


Coniferous 
3,410 
6,437 
193 
9,654 
Non-Coniferous 
47 
603 
22 
627 
Total 
3,456 
7,040 
215 
10,281 
Woodbased panels (thousand m3) 


Veneer sheets 
0 
53 
2 
51 
Plywood 
0 
1,453 
86 
1,367 
Particleboard 
2,495 
1,247 
234 
3,508 
Fibreboard 
751 
897 
62 
1,586 
Total 
3,246 
3,650 
384 
6,512 
Paper & paperboard (thousand tonnes) 


Graphic papers 
918 
2,509 
352 
3,075 
Sanitary & 
household papers 
762 
313 
7 
1,068 
Packaging materials 
1,884 
2,237 
336 
3,785 
Other paper & paperboard 
287 
129 
129 
287 
Total 
3,851 
5,188 
824 
8,215 

 
Source: Industry surveys, industry associations, UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs). Notes: 
1. Excludes other wood products, e.g. fuelwood and round fencing. 2. Excludes roundwood and intermediate products (e.g. sawmill products, pulp and recovered 

paper) to avoid double-counting. 
3. Includes sleepers. 

## 3.3 Flow Of Recovered Paper

UK production of recovered paper (the amount recovered from businesses and households in the UK) totalled 7.3 million tonnes in 2019 (Table 3.3) a decrease of 3% from 2018. Imports fell by 31% and exports decreased by 4% between 2018 and 2019, resulting in a 1% fall in apparent consumption over this period. 

thousand tonnes 
Year 
UK 
production 
Imports 
Exports 
Apparent 
consumption1 
2010 
8,003 
115 
4,388 
3,730 
2011 
8,036 
177 
4,479 
3,733 
2012 
8,099 
160 
4,447 
3,812 
2013 
7,901 
184 
4,248 
3,837 
2014 
8,014 
136 
4,436 
3,714 
2015 
7,912 
305 
4,881 
3,336 
2016 
7,825 
125 
4,932 
3,018 
2017 
7,772 
107 
4,733 
3,147 
2018 
7,539 
120 
4,530 
3,129 
2019 
7,348 
83 
4,327 
3,104 

 
Source: Confederation of Paper Industries, UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs). Notes: 
1. Apparent consumption of recovered paper refers to use of recycled paper pulp in the UK. 


## 3.4 Uk Import Quantities By Product

Wood imports to the UK in 2019 included 7.0 million cubic metres of sawnwood (a 2% decrease from the previous year), 3.7 million cubic metres of woodbased panels (6% decrease), 8.9 million tonnes of wood pellets (11% increase) and 6.2 million tonnes of pulp and paper (7% decrease) (Table 3.4).   

Wood-
Sawn 
Other 
Wood 
based 
wood2 
wood4 
pellets 
Pulp & 
paper5 
Year 
panels3 
(thousand 
(thousand 
(thousand 
(thousand 
(thousand 
m3) 
m3) 
tonnes) 
tonnes) 
m3) 
2010 
5,699 
2,701 
1,071 
551 
8,462 
2011 
4,936 
2,827 
985 
1,015 
8,073 
2012 
5,179 
2,650 
965 
1,487 
7,812 
2013 
5,488 
2,964 
1,267 
3,432 
7,213 
2014 
6,425 
3,260 
1,329 
4,773 
7,319 
2015 
6,323 
3,215 
1,378 
6,573 
7,560 
2016 
6,794 
3,410 
1,121 
6,782 
7,092 
2017 
7,663 
3,800 
1,379 
6,885 
6,798 
2018 
7,213 
3,878 
1,766 
7,992 
6,663 
2019 
7,040 
3,650 
2,229 
8,878 
6,168 

 
Source: UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs), industry associations Notes: 
1. There are reliability concerns for some of these figures, particularly for individual products 

(see Sources chapter). 
2. Sawnwood includes sleepers from 2017. 3. Includes veneer sheets. 4. Includes roundwood, wood charcoal, chips, particles, residues and from 2017, includes 
recovered wood. 
5. Further details of pulp and paper import quantities are provided in table 3.4a. 


Paper accounted for the majority of pulp and paper imports, with a total of 5.2 million tonnes imported in 2019 (Table 3.4a). This represented a 5% decrease from the previous year. 

thousand tonnes 
Total Pulp & 
Year 
Paper 
Pulp 
Recovered 
paper 
Paper 
2010 
7,254 
1,094 
115 
8,462 
2011 
6,887 
1,009 
177 
8,073 
2012 
6,631 
1,021 
160 
7,812 
2013 
5,929 
1,100 
184 
7,213 
2014 
5,949 
1,234 
136 
7,319 
2015 
6,032 
1,223 
305 
7,560 
2016 
5,876 
1,092 
125 
7,092 
2017 
5,610 
1,081 
107 
6,798 
2018 
5,477 
1,066 
120 
6,663 
2019 
5,188 
897 
83 
6,168 

 
Source: UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs), industry associations 
1. There are reliability concerns for some of these figures, particularly for individual products 
(see Sources chapter). 


## 3.5 Uk Export Quantities By Product

A total of 5.2 million tonnes of pulp and paper (including recovered paper) was exported from the UK in 2019 (Table 3.5), representing a 3% decrease from 2018. 

Wood-
Sawn 
Other 
Wood 
based 
wood2 
wood4 
pellets 
Pulp & 
paper5 
Year 
panels3 
(thousand 
(thousand 
(thousand 
(thousand 
(thousand 
m3) 
m3) 
tonnes) 
tonnes) 
m3) 
2010 
195 
509 
1,029 
60 
5,349 
2011 
162 
546 
1,430 
38 
5,485 
2012 
141 
597 
1,779 
54 
5,585 
2013 
167 
432 
1,267 
106 
5,390 
2014 
175 
404 
1,083 
98 
5,467 
2015 
187 
286 
1,018 
88 
5,712 
2016 
193 
314 
810 
21 
5,700 
2017 
218 
374 
638 
126 
5,528 
2018 
238 
295 
595 
63 
5,317 
2019 
215 
384 
604 
33 
5,160 

 
Source: UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs), industry associations Notes: 
1. There are reliability concerns for some of these figures, particularly for individual products 

(see Sources chapter). 
2. Includes roundwood, wood charcoal, chips, particles, residues and, from 2017, includes 
recovered wood.  
3. Includes veneer sheets. 4. Sawnwood includes sleepers from 2017. 5. Further details of pulp and paper export quantities are provided in table 3.5a. 


Recovered paper accounted for the majority of pulp and paper exports, with 4.3 million tonnes exported in 2019 (Table 3.5a). 

thousand tonnes 
Total Pulp & 
Year 
Paper 
Pulp 
Recovered 
paper 
Paper 
2010 
926 
35 
4,388 
5,349 
2011 
974 
32 
4,479 
5,485 
2012 
1,102 
36 
4,447 
5,585 
2013 
1,119 
23 
4,248 
5,390 
2014 
1,010 
21 
4,436 
5,467 
2015 
807 
24 
4,881 
5,712 
2016 
760 
7 
4,932 
5,700 
2017 
788 
7 
4,733 
5,528 
2018 
772 
15 
4,530 
5,317 
2019 
824 
9 
4,327 
5,160 

 
Source: UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs), industry associations Notes: 
1. There are reliability concerns for some of these figures, particularly for individual products 

(see Sources chapter). 

## 3.6 Uk Import Values By Product

Wood product imports in 2019 were valued at a total of £8.3 billion, a 1% increase from 2018 (Table 3.6). Pulp and paper (including recovered paper) imports were valued at £4.1 billion in 2019 (almost half of the total value of wood product imports).  Sawnwood imports were valued at £1.6 billion in 2019, wood-based panels at £1.1 billion and wood pellets at £1.3 billion. 

£ million 
Wood-
Other 
Wood 
Year 
Sawn 
based 
wood2 
wood4 
pellets 
Pulp & 
Paper5 
Total 
panels3 
2010 
1,199 
781 
110 
69 
4,607 
6,765 
2011 
1,080 
838 
79 
129 
4,696 
6,822 
2012 
1,084 
791 
75 
185 
4,266 
6,402 
2013 
1,180 
882 
88 
412 
4,165 
6,727 
2014 
1,420 
936 
80 
547 
4,196 
7,180 
2015 
1,311 
957 
88 
780 
4,375 
7,510 
2016 
1,423 
1,010 
85 
915 
4,003 
7,436 
2017 
1,636 
1,155 
90 
961 
4,004 
7,845 
2018 
1,743 
1,201 
122 
1,117 
4,075 
8,257 
2019 
1,598 
1,134 
184 
1,309 
4,076 
8,301 

 
Source: UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs), industry associations Notes: 
1. There are reliability concerns for some of these figures, particularly for individual products 

(see Sources chapter). 
2. Sawnwood includes sleepers from 2017. 3. Includes veneer sheets. 4. Includes roundwood, wood charcoal, chips, particles, residues and from 2017, includes 
recovered wood. 
5. Further details of pulp and paper import values are provided in table 3.6a. 


Paper imports were valued at £3.5 billion in 2019, a 4% increase from the previous year (Table 3.6a). 

£ million 
Total Pulp & 
Year 
Paper 
Pulp 
Recovered 
paper 
Paper 
2010 
3,997 
593 
17 
4,607 
2011 
4,049 
613 
34 
4,696 
2012 
3,727 
519 
21 
4,266 
2013 
3,644 
500 
21 
4,165 
2014 
3,667 
509 
19 
4,196 
2015 
3,711 
642 
23 
4,375 
2016 
3,434 
557 
13 
4,003 
2017 
3,418 
572 
14 
4,004 
2018 
3,415 
639 
21 
4,075 
2019 
3,538 
520 
17 
4,076 

 
Source: UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs), industry associations Notes: 
1. There are reliability concerns for some of these figures, particularly for individual products 

(see Sources chapter). 

## 3.7 Uk Export Values By Product

Wood product exports from the UK were valued at a total of £1.7 billion in 2019, a 5% decrease from the 2018 total (Table 3.7). Total exports of wood products in 2019 comprised 87% pulp and paper, 7% wood-based panels, 3% sawnwood and 2% other wood. 

£ million 
Wood-
Other 
Wood 
Year 
Sawn 
based 
wood2 
wood4 
pellets 
Pulp & 
Paper5 
Total 
panels3 
2010 
47 
113 
35 
7 
1,610 
1,812 
2011 
41 
128 
50 
3 
1,650 
1,872 
2012 
34 
130 
51 
4 
1,589 
1,807 
2013 
37 
109 
47 
5 
1,519 
1,717 
2014 
43 
107 
39 
2 
1,480 
1,672 
2015 
44 
75 
35 
1 
1,441 
1,597 
2016 
50 
91 
26 
0 
1,307 
1,473 
2017 
55 
109 
41 
6 
1,651 
1,861 
2018 
64 
103 
41 
5 
1,597 
1,810 
2019 
58 
123 
41 
2 
1,491 
1,714 

 
Source: UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs), industry associations Notes: 
1. There are reliability concerns for some of these figures, particularly for individual products 

(see Sources chapter). 
2. Sawnwood includes sleepers from 2017. 3. Includes veneer sheets. 4. Includes roundwood, wood charcoal, chips, particles, residues and from 2017, includes 
recovered wood. 
5. Further details of pulp and paper export values are provided in table 3.7a. 


Paper exports were valued at £1.0 billion in 2019, accounting for 70% of all pulp and paper exports (Table 3.7a). 

£ million 
Total Pulp & 
Year 
Paper 
Pulp 
Recovered 
paper 
Paper 
2010 
1,068 
18 
524 
1,610 
2011 
1,044 
11 
595 
1,650 
2012 
1,048 
10 
531 
1,589 
2013 
1,017 
8 
494 
1,519 
2014 
997 
7 
476 
1,480 
2015 
901 
7 
534 
1,441 
2016 
838 
4 
465 
1,307 
2017 
997 
5 
649 
1,651 
2018 
1,022 
5 
570 
1,597 
2019 
1,049 
4 
437 
1,491 

 
Source: UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs), industry associations Notes: 
1. There are reliability concerns for some of these figures, particularly for individual products 

(see Sources chapter). 

## 3.8 Origin Of Wood Imports

Table 3.8 presents data on the source of selected wood products that have been imported into the UK in 2019. Sawn softwood, particleboard, fibreboard, and paper and paperboard were overwhelmingly imported from EU countries in 2019 (Table 3.8): 

- Sweden (42%), Latvia (18%) and Finland (14%) provided the majority 
of imports of sawn softwood to the UK. 
- Most particleboard imports to the UK came from Germany (26%), France 
(19%) and Ireland (14%). 
- Ireland (31%), Germany (20%), Belgium and Spain (both 10%) were 
the principal sources of fibreboard imports. 
- Most paper and paperboard imports came from Sweden (18%), Germany 
(16%) and Finland (15%). 
Sawn hardwood and wood pulp imports originated from a range of both EU and non-EU countries in 2019: 

- Estonia (14%), the USA (13%), Latvia (11%) and France (10%) 
provided almost one half of sawn hardwood imports to the UK. 
- Sweden (30%) and Brazil (29%) provided over one half of wood pulp 
imports to the UK. 
The vast majority of UK imports of plywood and wood pellets came from countries outside the EU in 2018: 

- China (37%) and Brazil (20%) were the principal sources of plywood 
imports to the UK. 
- The USA (62%) and Canada (18%) provided the majority of wood pellet 
imports to the UK. 

per cent of total UK imports (volume) in each category 
Paper 
Sawn1 
Sawn1 
Ply-
Particleand 
Source 
soft 
hard 
wood 
board 
Fibreboard Pellets Wood 
pulp 
paperwood 
wood 
board 
Sweden 
42 
1 
1 
0 
0 
0 
30 
18 
Germany 
7 
3 
1 
26 
20 
0 
3 
16 
Finland 
14 
4 
6 
0 
1 
0 
8 
15 
Latvia 
18 
11 
1 
11 
9 
10 
0 
0 
France 
0 
10 
8 
19 
1 
0 
0 
6 
Ireland 
6 
1 
0 
14 
31 
0 
0 
1 
Netherlands 
1 
4 
0 
0 
0 
0 
8 
4 
Italy 
0 
7 
0 
2 
0 
0 
1 
3 
Austria 
0 
1 
0 
1 
1 
0 
2 
4 
Belgium 
1 
1 
1 
12 
10 
0 
0 
2 
Portugal 
0 
0 
0 
10 
2 
2 
4 
3 
Spain 
0 
0 
1 
2 
10 
0 
3 
2 
Poland 
1 
4 
1 
1 
3 
0 
0 
2 
Estonia 
2 
14 
0 
0 
0 
4 
0 
0 
Other EU 
3 
6 
0 
1 
3 
1 
0 
1 
Total EU 
94 
67 
20 
98 
92 
17 
59 
77 
USA 
0 
13 
0 
0 
0 
62 
1 
4 
Canada 
1 
2 
1 
0 
0 
18 
0 
3 
Brazil 
0 
1 
20 
0 
0 
0 
29 
1 
China 
0 
0 
37 
0 
2 
0 
0 
1 
Russia 
5 
1 
8 
1 
2 
2 
1 
1 
Norway 
0 
4 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
5 
Indonesia 
0 
0 
4 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
Chile 
0 
0 
2 
0 
1 
0 
4 
1 
Malaysia 
0 
2 
4 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
Cameroon 
0 
5 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Other non- EU 
0 
4 
3 
0 
1 
0 
5 
5 
Total non- EU 
6 
33 
80 
2 
8 
83 
41 
23 
 

 

Source: UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs), industry associations. Notes:  
1. Sawnwood imports in this table exclude sleepers. 
 
Figure 3.2 shows the main sources of imports of sawn softwood to the UK since 1962.  The total level of sawn softwood imports has fluctuated between around 5 million m3 and 10 million m3 from 1962 to present.  Imports to the UK from Canada have reduced substantially since the early 1990s.  In contrast imports from the Baltic States increased between 1992 and 2003 and, although there was some decline between 2003 to 2012, imports from the Baltic States to the UK have started to increase again in recent years.  Since 1993 Sweden has consistently been the principal country of origin for UK sawn softwood imports. 

Source: FAO, UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs), industry associations. Notes:  
1. Sawn softwood imports in this chart exclude sleepers.