Balance for timber and wood products, 1988-1999

		1988	1990	1994	1995	1999
		1,000 m3 r. e. without bark
Production		1 119	1 260	1 043	1 104	1 044
of which	softwood	770	845	601	693	651
	hardwood	349	415	442	411	393
Imports		17 170	17 016	18 118	17 698	25 532
Exports		4 694	4 255	4 889	4 752	5 870
Use		14 502	14 220	14 243	13 523	18 877
Statistical difference1)		-907	-199	29	527	1 829
Source: Stichting Bos en Hout.					CBS/EDC /Oct02
1) Stock changes, calculation differences resulting from conversion to r.e. (= roundwood equivalent).

Changes in the timber balance

Most of the timber and wood products used in the Netherlands are imported. Sawn wood, paper, cardboard and pulp are the main imports (22, 35 and 26% respectively of total imports of round wood and wood products). Approximately 75% of imports come from EU countries (1997), with 23% coming from Sweden, 13% from Finland and 13% from Germany. Only a small proportion (5%) is tropical wood. Timber harvesting in the Netherlands covers only 6.4% of Dutch use (Stichting Bos en Hout).

Technical note

The production of timber and wood products is calculated on the basis of a survey of round-wood-processing companies. As a result, the production figures in the table may differ from the figures for timber harvesting in the Dutch forest (page is not available yet), which were determined on the basis of forest measurements.

Round wood consists of trunks or parts of trunks which have not been processed further after cutting, chopping or, in some cases, debarking. In order to be able to add up the different timber products in the tables in this section, the quantities have been converted to the quantity of round wood needed to make products. The conversion to roundwood equivalents assumes that half of the wood left over from processing round wood into sawn wood is reused in the production of other wood products such as chipboard, fibreboard, paper and cardboard.

References

• SBH (2001). Bos en hout berichten, 2001(2). Stichting Bos en Hout, Wageningen.

Relevant sections and indicators in the Environmental Data Compendium

• Dutch forest development (page is not available yet)
  Growing stock, growth, felling and harvesting of timber.
• Net Dutch imports of tropical wood, 1988-1999

Relevant information outside of the Environmental Data Compendium

• Stichting Bos en Hout. Stiching Bos en Hout (The Forest and Wood Foundation) is a knowledge and skills consultancy centre for the forest, wood and paper sector.