Finland’s Wood Imports and Export Values Declined in 2022

The Finnish forest industry’s foreign trade was negatively impacted in 2022 by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting economic affects.

According to Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), a total of 5.5 million cubic meters of roundwood and forest industry by-products were imported into Finland in 2022. That is 56% less than in the previous year. Luke notes that the war in Ukraine significantly changed wood trade in the Baltic Sea region and the flows of foreign wood into Finland. Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia was the most important source of foreign wood for Finland, but imports from Russia ended last spring.

Of the wood imported into Finland in 2022, 56% was pulpwood, 28% were chips, and 2% were logs. The rest consisted of forest industry by-products (wood pellets, sawdust, etc.) and fuelwood.

According to Eeva Vaahtera, a senior statistician at Luke, “Before the war, Russia’s share had been approximately three quarter of wood imports, but in 2022 it was 27%. The share of Estonia and Latvia increased slightly more than a fifth, while 18% of wood came from Sweden. Batches of wood were also imported from Latin America and Africa.”

In value, forest industry exports from Finland decreased in real terms by 8% to EUR 14.6 billion.