Why Finnish Wood?
Finnish sawn timber is a concept. Slowly – in the northern climate – grown softwood is a strong, dense and beautiful, but also ecologically sustainable choice for many different uses.
SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY
Best practices in the name of continuity
Finland is a country that has lived of forests for centuries. In the name of continuity, it is clear that forests and their well-being are being taken care of now and in the future.
Finland is the most forested country in Europe. More than three-quarters of the country’s land area is covered by forests. Forests grow 110 million cubic meters a year, and even if the forest is felled, the annual felling volumes are always 20 % less than the growth. The share of forest managed annually is less than 2 % of the total forest area and the share of clear-cutting is less than 1 %. total area.
quality
Slow by Nature
The tree grows in Finland for about 50–120 years, depending on the place of growth, region and species. Slow-growing wood cannot compete on price with fast-growing wood, but on the other hand, slow growth guarantees the industry the strongest wood raw material in the world.
diversity
Real forests
The Finnish forest landscape is a mosaic with many forests of different ages. The subsoil directs growth and cultivation in the direction of a particular main tree species, but there are still inherently different tree species and different age groups in all forests. The long rotation period of the forest supports the diversity of the forests.
POLICY
Mandatory management
Forest management is governed by the world’s most advanced legislation, which obliges forest owners, among other things, to regenerate their forests after felling. To ensure the growth of the new forest, at least four new seedlings are planted for each felled tree.
Green gold
Forest as a part of every day life
The forest is Finland’s most significant renewable natural resource and an important source of livelihood for tens of thousands of Finns.
Forests are an important part of Finland’s national wealth, as the property of more than 700,000 Finns is partly “green gold”. Most forests, about 60 percent of forest land and 70 percent of stand growth, are owned by private forest owners, ordinary families. The importance of private forest owners for the Finnish wood-using industry is important. As much as 80 percent of the domestic wood used by industry comes from privately owned forests.
Land of forests
Finland is the most forested country in Europe. Up to 78% of the area is forestry land.
HECTARES
More than 700,000 Finns own forest. The average forest farm size is 30.1 hectares.
%
Private forests
Most of the forests are privately owned. Ordinary families own 60% of the forest land.
PROTECTED
There are a total of 2.9 million hectares of protected forests in Finland.
Four Facts of the Industry
Finnish sawmills are central players in a global timber trade and also in Finland. Every piece of the valuable raw material is utilized and nothing gets wasted.
According the orders
Customers orders control the felling of wood in the forest. The frames are cut to lengths of 3.1 to 6.1 meters every 30 cm and sorted at a sawmill according to the top diameter, length and quality.
Small gigant
There are more than 70 industrial sawmills in Finland, which produce about 11 million cubic meters of sawn timber for the world market every year. Although the amount is only 3% of the world’s sawn timber production, Finland is still the world’s fourth largest coniferous timber exporter.
Central role
Finnish sawmills use a third of the wood from forests, the rest is used by the pulp and paper industry. Still, the sawmills pay two thirds of the annual 2.3 billion euros forest income of Finnish forest owners.
Valuable raw material
Two cubic meters of log is needed to produce a cubic meter of timber. The raw material – stem price, harvesting and transport costs – accounts for up to 75% of the total sawing costs.
Wood From Finland
Wood from Finland is a national promotion program for Finnish sawn timber operated by Finnish Sawmill Association.