Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG

Production and trade in wood and paper products:

- Primary products: roundwood, sawnwood, chips, residues, pellets, veneers, glulam, wood-based panels, pulp, paper, recovered paper and paperboard

- Secondary products: further processed wood and paper products (only trade value)

Source: questionnaire jointly used by Eurostat, FAO, UN ECE and ITTO (Joint Forest Sector Questionnaire, JFSQ, EU version with extra worksheets).

A selection and aggregation of wood and paper products from the Harmonised System / Combined Nomenclature (CN) (available on RAMON Eurostat's Metadata Server) in its latest annual version.

Tropical wood imports cover the sum of all products of Chapter 44 and, separately, the sum of identified tropical items of Chapter 44.

FAO Classification of Forest Products

NACE Rev.2 sectors covered:

Manufacture of wood and wood products (16), Manufacture of pulp, paper and paper products (17), Manufacture of furniture (31), Collection of paper for recycling (part of 38.32), Manufacturing not elsewhere specified (32.9).

Removals of roundwood  comprise all quantities of wood felled and removed from the forest and other wooded land or other felling sites. They are measured in cubic metres over bark (including the bark) and under bark (without bark). Removals are also presented by ownership categories private forests, state forests and other publicly owned forests.

Trade includes the total trade of each country and trade with countries outside the EU (extra-EU trade). The sum of extra-EU trade shows how the EU performs as a single market. Trade in industrial roundwood and in sawnwood is presented by timber species.

Definitions and the source questionnaire are available on our open-access communication platform CIRCABC under the interest group "Forestry statistics and accounts". They are also published on our dedicated webpage under the Metodology section: Methodology - Forestry - Eurostat (europa.eu)

Some countries have different definitions on certain products:
Private forests include other publicly owned forests, no data available for other publicly owned forests (AT, FI, HU from 2020)

Item 1 (Roundwood). NL: Removals OB and JQ1 since 2015 does include chips and shreds produced from tops, branches, stumps and roots and for this reason should not be treated as just roundwood. Originating from both forest and non-forest area's. Removals underbark since 2015 in NL: This table only covers the volume from forests and it excludes chips produced form tops and branches. It does however include fuelwood from thick branches and tops; AT: overbark and underbark includes removals only from FOWL. 
Item 3 (Wood chips, particles and residues). AT: Item 3 and 3.2 (Residues) include item 4 (Recovered post consumer wood) in Extra EU Trade. No data available separately for item 4. It is also included in the trade data for the latest reported year. For trade, item 4 is available after N+2 years.
Item 5.1 (Wood pellets). FI: item 5.1 includes 5.2 (Other agglomerates), production data.
Item 9 (wood pulp). IT: item 9 includes item 10 (other pulp)
Item 9.2 (Chemical wood pulp). SE: production data includes item 9.3 (Dissolving grades) from 2016 onwards; NO: production 2015-2016 item 9.2 includes item 9.3.; FI: production 9.2 includes 9.3. Dissolving grades were included in 9.2.1 sulphate pulp 2014-2016, since 2017 they are included in sulphite pulp 9.2.2.
Item 9.2.2 (Sulphite pulp). FI: 9.2.2 includes sulphate unbleached since 2017; NO: production 2014-2016 Sulphite pulp includes dissolving grades (item 9.3).
Item 11 (Recovered paper). IT: data includes paper for recycling consumption, does not include paperboard.
Item 12.1 (Graphic papers): BE: 12.1.2 uncoated mechanical is included in the other categories. SE 2014 and 2018-2020 production: 12.1.2 uncoated mechanical includes coated mechanical, 12.1.3 uncoated woodfree includes coated woodfree. 12.1.4 coated data not available.
Item 12.4 (Other paper and paperboard), IT: mainly for packaging, includes cartonboard; FI: includes 12.2. (household and sanitary)

Removals: national forest inventories, use-side surveys, or forest owners (private, state and other public owners).

Wood products: enterprises or the local kind-of-activity units, industrial associations.

A synthesis of all the Member States' quality reports is annexed to this Metadata sheet and is also available on the dedicated forestry webiste, methodological section: Methodology - Forestry - Eurostat (europa.eu)

The statistical population is assortments of raw wood, primary wood and paper products, and secondary wood and paper products.

The EU Member States and EFTA countries, the candidate countries, Canada, USA, the Russian Federation, China, India, Indonesia and Brazil. Data for France cover only mainland France without the overseas territories and dominions French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion or Mayotte.

Data on tropical wood imports covers countries that have signed, agreed or are negotiating Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) with the EU, as part of the EU's policy to fight illegal logging and associated trade. This policy was defined in 2003 with the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) action plan. Licenses are to be issued by the countries that have agreed a bilateral VPA with the EU once the VPA agreements are concluded and legality assurance systems are implemented. The exporting countries must take measures to ensure that only legally harvested timber bears a license. The total imports from FLEGT countries show the potential amounts of verified legal timber that could one day enter the EU. For this table, the EU includes all French overseas territories and dominions (Fr. Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, Mayotte).   

Wood products' time series begin in 1992 onwards; imports of tropical wood begin in 1999.

Not applicable

Cubic metre under bark (1000 m³) for roundwood, sawnwood, veneers, wood-based panels, plywood, particleboard and fibreboard

Cubic metre over bark (1000 m³) for roundwood

Metric tonne (1000 t) for charcoal, pellets, pulp and paper

Metric tonne (t) and EUR for imports of tropical wood

National currency (EUR or other) in current basic prices

Calendar year. For the imports of tropical wood, the last two years are provided in months because it takes at least one year for the trade data to become complete.  

No legal basis - only gentlemen's agreement.

The world-wide collection is carried out by the Inter-Secretariat Working Group (IWG) on Forest Sector Statistics, consisting of Eurostat, the UN ECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe), FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) and ITTO (International Tropical Timber Organization).  Co-operation is organised through the annual meetings of the IWG.

Eurostat collects data for the EU and EFTA countries and exchanges data with its partner organisations in the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Forest Sector Statistics (UN ECE, FAO and ITTO) in order to publish data for the candidate countries, Canada, USA, the Russian Federation, China, India, Indonesia and Brazil.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Data are suppressed for at least three countries per product when required, with the aim of publishing EU totals. This was done manually in the past. Unreported data are estimated by Eurostat but not published or made available to its partner organisations. They are used for the EU totals, as are selected PRODCOM estimates.

Data are updated at least once per year.

Not available

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on it's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Annual

Online news releases

Eurostat Statistical Book on Energy, transport and environment indicators

Eurostat Statistical Book on Agriculture, forestry and fisheries statistics

Annual report on rural development (European Commission Department for Agriculture)

UNECE Forest Products Annual Market Review

FAO Yearbook

FAO Forest Resources Assessment and Forest Europe's report on the State of Europe's Forests (every 5 years)

ITTO Biennial Review of the World Timber Situation

Eurostat's database

FAO's slightly less detailed international database FAOSTAT

ITTO's Biennial Review Statistics 

Not available

For more information please see Eurostat's

• Forestry homepage 
• Statistics explained - Forestry statistics (4 articles)

The Joint Forest Sector Questionnaire (JFSQ) and its definitions are available on the communication platform under 'Forestry statistics and accounts'.

Wardle, Ph., Van Brusselen, B., Michie, B. and A. Schuck (2003): Forest Products Statistical Information Systems of EU and EFTA; European Forest Institute Research Reports No. 16, ISBN-13: 978 90 04 12919 1; ISBN-10: 90 04 12919 7; 166 pp.

Unit value checks and consistency of time series are done. Data are sent to UN ECE, where they are checked for outliers before being sent to FAO for publication in the FAOSTAT database. Any changes made by UN ECE or FAO are reported back to Eurostat.

A summary of all the quality checks done at Eurostat is annexed to this Metadata sheet and also available on our dedicated website: Methodology - Forestry - Eurostat (europa.eu)

Wardle, Ph., Van Brusselen, B., Michie, B. and A. Schuck (2003): Forest Products Statistical Information Systems of EU and EFTA; European Forest Institute Research Reports No. 16, ISBN-13: 978 90 04 12919 1; ISBN-10: 90 04 12919 7; 166 pp.

This contains a description of how each country compiles its data for the JFSQ.

Policy-makers including rural development, energy and climate action policy; researchers.

Not available

Confidentiality is a problem due to mergers of enterprises and enterprises leaving the EU.

Data providers are encouraged to make informed estimates when they have no data. The concentration of the industry and its displacement to other areas of the world mean that confidentiality problems are increasing.

Not applicable

When we estimate production based on the balance of imports and exports ("apparent consumption"), we are producing a very conservative estimate, the quality of which also depends on the quality of intra-EU trade data. We therefore use PRODCOM estimates of EU totals for selected products.    

9 months after the end of the reference year.

Up to 4 months late for wood products, mainly due to trade data taking longer and longer to compile at the national level. 

Under-estimation of fuelwood is the greatest hurdle for comparing data between countries. France and Finland revised their fuelwood data, but others have yet to do this.

Removals of industrial roundwood may also be under-estimated. 

See 3.4 for differences in definitions amond Member States.

Time series look good at country level, but breaks at EU-level are due to the use of other sources, such as PRODCOM and COMEXT. There is a break in all countries extra-EU trade data in 2020 due to Brexit.

The following breaks in time series are noted:

AT: 2021 Item 11 (recovered paper) production. AustroPapier changed their reporting on Recover Paper from 2021 onwards, from calculated to reported (source: Umweltbundesamt). 

Cross-comparisons with forest accounts show that the collections must be made coherent by countries before submitting the data to Eurostat.

Recovered paper data from the JFSQ agree quite well with statistics on waste.

The data published are coherent.

6 man-months for Eurostat and 0.5 man-months for each data provider

Corrections by the country correspondents are encouraged.

All changes in methodology are discussed in the meetings of the Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Forest Sector Statistics and in Eurostat's Working group on Forestry Statistics

The basic data collection is carried out by country correspondents in the Member States and EFTA countries. Data are generally collected from the users of roundwood (the wood industry companies or companies that trade in roundwood). See a 2018 presentation for the full list of sources.

Eurostat's PRODCOM data for production totals of selected products comes from annual surveys of the manufacturing, quarrying and mining industries in EU Member States according to the annual PRODCOM list of products. Small Member States are not covered by PRODCOM.

Yearly

Joint Eurostat/UNECE/FAO/ITTO Forest Sector Questionnaire (JFSQ), EU version, as published on the communication platform under the interest group "Forestry statistics and accounts" 

The members of the Eurostat/UNECE/FAO/ITTO Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Forest Sector Statistics have agreed on basic validation rules aimed at identifying and eliminating as many inconsistencies as possible. Checks of unit values and consistency of time series are in place. Any changes are discussed with the countries before publication.

EU and EFTA data are forwarded to UN ECE, where they are checked for outliers; UN COMTRADE data are used for comparison where needed, though some discrepancies are due to the different philosophies behind COMEXT and COMTRADE. The data then go to FAO for publication in the FAOSTAT and ITTO databases. Any changes made by UN ECE, FAO or ITTO are reported back to Eurostat.

EU aggregates are calculated by Eurostat by summing up the product data, including unpublished estimates, or by directly using PRODCOM or COMEXT aggregates.

The country correspondents are responsible for the data quality. Eurostat validates and corrects the data in consultation with them. For some products, conversion factors are used, e.g. for converting data in m² to m³ or tonnes to m³.

Not applicable