Conditions and trends Global industrial fiber production totals 1.5 billion cubic meters. Production has risen by 50 percent since 1960 and is expected to rise by between 20 and 50 percent by 2020. Nearly 80 percent of fiber production today comes from primary and secondary-growth forests. Less than half of global forest area is defined by FAO as currently available for fiber production. The remainder is restricted either by current market conditions or by legal protection.
Production is concentrated in North America, Europe, and Asia.
The greatest reserves of currently unexploited mature trees exist in Canada, Russia, and Brazil. Only the United States and Western European countries currently harvest less wood from available forest land than regrows annually. Canada, Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and most developing countries harvest above replacement rates in their available forest areas. Industrial wood plantations now supply just over 20 percent of fiber production. This share is expected to increase in future, but increased production from plantations will not necessarily decrease harvest rates in natural forests.