Poland’s forest sector the strongest among EU countries in transition
The Central and Eastern Europe Forest Information Project of Metla gathers baseline information on the Polish forest sector. A training and networking visit to the Warsaw and Łódź regions is being organised under the project at the end of April 2012.
Growing forest resources enable more logging
Poland’s land area is 312,000 square kilometres. Forests account for 30 per cent, or 9.3 million hectares, of this. The share of forests has increased dramatically in recent decades, as has the mean volume. The total volume of the growing stock is 2.3 billion cubic metres, which is slightly more than in Finland. In 2010, the volume of trees per hectare was 247 cubic metres. Growth was eight cubic metres per hectare.
Pine is by far the most common tree species: it represents about 70 per cent of the stand volume. Spruce, oak, birch, alder and beech each account for 5–6 per cent. The age class distribution of the stands is unbalanced. As a result of large-scale afforestation carried out after the Second World War, much of Poland’s forests is 40–60 years old. The forest resources are concentrated in the south-eastern and north-western parts of the country.
Annual fellings amount to about 35 million cubic metres, which is only half of the total growth of 70 million cubic metres. One Pole uses slightly over one cubic metre of roundwood per year.
Tradition of private forest ownership continues, but state has main responsibility for wood supply
In Poland, 82 per cent of the forests are publicly owned, while only 18 per cent are private. Unlike in other Central and Eastern European countries in transition, the state did not take possession of small forest properties in the post-war period. The private forests are fragmented, however, and the average size of a forest property is only 1.3 hectares. Consequently, almost all industrial roundwood comes from state-owned forests.
The traditional harvesting method used in Poland is the tree-length method, and skidders are common. Since 2005, however, modern harvesting chains have rapidly gained ground. In state-owned forests, wood is usually harvested by contract entrepreneurs.
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| Białowieża National Park on the border between Poland and Belarus. Photo: Merlin (terms of use). |
Forest policy takes account of the various uses of forests
The Polish Act on Forests (1991) takes a stand on the various uses of forests. Strictly protected areas cover about 0.2 million hectares of forest, and landscape parks, where management measures are less restricted, account for some 1.3 million hectares. The national target is to further increase the share of forests to 33 per cent by 2050.
In energy generation, Poland is heavily dependent on coal. The aim is to raise biomass use from 8 to 15 per cent by 2020. The focus, however, is on increasing the use of agricultural biomass, since the goal for roundwood is to increase value added.
Poland exports furniture and packaging paper
In 2010, the forest sector represented 1.8 per cent of Poland's Gross Domestic Product. In recent years, the share of exports has been higher – around 6 per cent. In particular, the mechanical forest industry and its further processed products have a very strong position.
In 2010, Poland was Europe’s second largest manufacturer of fibreboard (2.9 million cubic metres) and the third largest producer of chipboard (4.7 million cubic metres). In the 1990s and 2000s, the country attracted significant foreign investments in modern factories.
A major proportion of the boards are used by the country’s furniture industry, whose production was worth EUR 5.8 billion in 2010. Wooden furniture accounted for 73 per cent of the production. Most of the production is exported, with Germany and France being the largest export markets. The production of other joinery industry products, such as doors and windows, also plays a fairly significant role.
Poland’s paper industry has also experienced rapid growth: in 2010, production totalled 3.7 million tonnes. The main products include packaging paper and paperboard.
Further information
- Researcher Juhani Marttila, tel. +358 (0)50 391 3181, juhani.marttila(a)metla.fi
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