Forest accounts: documentation of statistics

Forest accounts are statistics that describe changes and flows in wood resources and their related economic values in the national economy. Apart from wood, forest accounting also extends to some other benefits from forests with known volumes or monetary values, as well as to data on the sizes of forest areas.

In the mass balance, raw materials and products of the forest industry are converted into equivalent measurement units, dry matter tonnes of wood, and the amounts of wood material bound as raw wood in the forest industry, and as intermediate products, final products, fuel and waste are monitored.

Annual data on the supply, foreign trade, consumption and production of wood and forestry products by economic activity and commodity group are gathered into one table in the supply-use balance. The balance monitors the consumption of wood and its processing into intermediate and final products, final consumption of wood products, use of by-products from wood processing as raw material or energy sources, and production of forestry products.

Volumes of saw timber, pulpwood and fuel wood, and forest processed chips, residues, sawn timber, plywood and chipboard are reported in thousands of solid cubic metres. Volumes of fibreboard, mechanical and chemical pulp, spent liquor, paper and board, and recycled paper are reported in thousands of tonnes.

Timber balance is an estimate of annual changes in the volume of growing stock resulting from biological increment, natural drain and fellings. The estimate for the annual increase in growing stock is calculated as the difference between the average annual increment and annual total drain over 5-yearly periods. The measurement unit is million solid cubic metres with bark.