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Published: 11 April 2013

Private forest owners' income from wood trade grew further in 2011

Between 2006 and 2011, an average of 100,000 private forest owners gained yearly income from wood trade. There was considerable variation between the years. In the most active year of wood trade, 2007, around 119,000 owners earned a total of EUR 1.88 billion from wood trade, while in the quietest year, 2009, about 84,000 traders made in all only EUR 0.94 billion. In 2011, taxable income from wood trade in private forests was close to EUR 1.5 billion. Farmers accounted for roughly 32 per cent of forest owners' income from wood trade. In contrast, active farmers earned 38 per cent of income from purchases for delivery. These data derive from the 2011 statistics on the finances of agricultural and forestry enterprises published by Statistics Finland.

Private forest owners' income from wood trade between 2006-2011 EUR million

Private forestry means forestry practised by natural persons, corporations subject to taxation and estates. In examinations concerning forestry, these statistical basic units are referred to as a 'forest estate entity', which means all forest estates owned by the same owner or owners taken together. The forest estate entity of a natural person is formed by summing up the forest estates owned jointly and separately by the couples. In 2011, approximately 370,000 forest estate entities were jointly owned. Of them, around 46,000 were owned by corporations subject to taxation, about 53,000 by estates and the remaining 271,000 by private persons and couples. The examination in the section on 'Theme of the statistics' includes only those forest estate entities that have income from wood trade. With regard to their number and area, estates were slowest at wood trade - on average, nine per cent of income from wood trade derived from estates, although their number and combined forest area correspond to around 13 to 14 per cent of the number and area of private forest owners. One quarter of wood traders with the biggest wood sales earned yearly around 73 per cent of all income from wood trade.

In the statistics, agriculture and forestry are examined separately. The results of agricultural enterprises are examined in Section 1 of the statistics. The number of active agricultural enterprises taxed on the basis of the act on the income tax of agriculture was in all 58,911 and the average result gained by them was around EUR 17,500. The result from agriculture corresponded to good 30 per cent of all taxable income of farmer couples. The income share of agriculture has constantly decreased in farmer households' all income. The income share of agriculture varies greatly due to differences in farms. For example, in livestock farms the majority of income comes from agriculture. Information based on personal tax data is given in Section 2 of the statistics.

Source: Statistics on the finances of agricultural and forestry enterprises, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Hannu Maliniemi 09 1734 2796, maataloustilastot@stat.fi

Director in charge: Hannele Orjala

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Updated 11.4.2013