Vital Forest Graphics

Changing trends in forest products trade

? n 2004, trade in wood-based for- est products accounted for an esti- mated 3.7 per cent of the world trade in commodities, valued at US$327 bil- lion (FAO 2007). Global trade in forest products takes place mostly within and among countries in Europe and North America and Asia and the Pacific (FAO 2007). Europe accounts for nearly half of the world’s trade in forest products with imports of US$158 billion and exports of US$184 billion (FAO 2007). Global trade in non-wood forest products (NWFPs) such as bamboo, mushrooms, game, fruit, medicinal plants, fibre, gums and resins, has recently been estimated at approxi- mately US$11 billion per annum (FAO 2007). In addition, the economic value of social, leisure, educational, environ- mental and medicinal products and services derived from forests, while difficult to estimate, is increasingly acknowledged. For example, more than 50 per cent of the most popular prescribed drugs in the US are derived from natural forest based compounds (Groombridge and Jenkins 2002). Most significantly in recent years inter- national attention has been increas- ingly focused on the crucial economic and environmental role forests play as a carbon reservoir and sink for mitigat- ing climate change.

The international trade in forest products

Global wood reserves are estimated at 400 billion cubic metres, with gross annual output amounting to roughly 3.5 billion cubic metres of roundwood in 2006 – or about one per cent of glo- bal reserves. Half of produced round- wood is used for industrial purposes or in construction and processing (indus- trial roundwood), the rest as an energy source (woodfuel), mainly in develop- ing countries. In 2004, global output of industrial roundwood was about 1.6 billion cubic metres, of which only 7 per cent was exported (FAO 2007). The bulk of the production was consumed locally or processed into secondary products. Over the last ten years global demand for roundwood has been growing by about one per cent a year. However the roundwood market is changing sub- stantially, driven by strong demand in emerging economies. In Europe in 2006 there was a large increase in the production and con- sumption of sawnwood, resulting in a substantial price rise. Meanwhile in North America the sawnwood market plummeted, due to an economic and housing market slowdown. Shift in exports and imports The nature of forest product exports has changed in recent years, with exports of primary products – logs

has undergone considerable changes, due to emerging markets, new investment strategies and diversification in products

Trends in net trade

of forest products

Billion US$

25

Europe

20

North America

15

10

5

South America

0

Africa

-5

-10

Asia and Pacific

-15

-20

-25 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004

Source: FAO 2007.

26 VITAL FOREST GRAPHICS