Commercial roundwood removals

Industrial roundwood

All commercial roundwood removal except wood fuel.

Gross value of industrial wood

Value of the wood at the place of delivery to buyer (road, factory yard etc.). Roadside.

Assortments

• Special timber includes poles, veneer logs, saw logs of veneer quality, and other timber of special high quality.
• First class saw logs refer to saw logs classified as first class according to measurement regulations. From 2012 first class saw logs is an outgoing assortment.
• Second class saw logs refer to saw logs classified as second class according to measurement regulations.  From 2012 second class saw logs is a outgoing assortment.
• Other saw logs comprise ordinary top-scaled and mid-scaled saw logs and other logs suitable for sawing, not measured in quality classes. From 2014, Other saw logs comprises all quantities of industrial saw logs.
• Unsorted saw logs and pulpwood comprise timber measured in tree length, wood sold as stumpage and other unsorted roundwood containing both saw logs and pulpwood. First and second class of saw logs is outgoing. From 2012 the most of saw logs are included in Unsorted saw logs.
• Pulpwood comprises roundwood generally used in the pulp industries and the fibreboard and particle board industries. Top-scaled timber (timber suitable for sawing) used in these industries is not included.
• Other roundwood comprises roundwood used for manufacture of cases and casks, pitprops and mining timber, pilings, fence wood, posts etc.
• Wood fuel refers to roundwood sold for fuel.

Buyer Groups (not in use from 2015)

• Sawmills and wood industries comprise sawmills, manufacture of cases and casks, and prefabrication of wooden houses and wooden structures.
• Pulp industries include the manufacture of mechanical and chemical pulp.
• Fibre and particle board industries comprise wallboard and particle board production only.
• Other Norwegian buyers comprise wood preserving industries, the manufacture of wood furniture and fixtures, charcoal, wood flour, wood wool, veneer and flooring, matches, ship and boat-building as well as all other buyers not included in other groups. Until 1998, wood for export was included.
• Foreign buyers include sawmills, industry or other buyers outside Norway. These buyers were included in "Other buyers" until 1998.

Tree species and assortment used by commercial roundwood removals

Name: Commercial roundwood removals
Topic: Agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing

Division for Housing, Property, Spatial and Agricultural Statistics

Preliminary figures on volume and prices are given at county-level. 

Final figures on volumes and gross value are given at  municipality-level.

Frequency: Annually until 2007. From 2007 figures are published quarterly.

Actuality: Preliminary figures are published within 4 weeks and final figures within 22 weeks after the end of the registration period.

Annually report to Eurostat, UNECE, FAO and ITTO by the Joint Forest Sector Questionaire.

Since 2007 monthly report to a website on Baltic Nordic roundwood prices.

Microdata are stored in Statistics Norway.

The purpose of the statistics is to provide detailed information at municipal level on commercial roundwood removals.

The statistics date back to 1918/19, but annual figures at municipal level are available from the working year 1936/37. At that time, statistics only covered quantity cut distributed by industrial wood and wood fuel of coniferous and broad leaved species.

Since then the following changes have been made:

• Buyer group was included from the working year 1962/63
• Gross value was included from the working year 1965/66
• The division of the assortments has varied over the course of time. The division used today was introduced in the working year 1970/71.
• Seller group was included from the working year 1980/81
• From 1996 the statistics follow the calendar year
• From 2006 the statistics do not include figures on wood fuel
• From 2006 average roundwood prices per cubic metre are provided

The statistics are used by public authorities, research and educational institutions, professional and industrial bodies, international organisations etc. The results are also used in the Aggregate account of forestry prepared by Statistics Norway.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given inthe Statistics Release Calendar. Read more about principles for equal treatement of all users on ssb.no.

Final results are almost equal to preliminary results at county level and country level, but can differ considerably at municipal level.

Some other public institutions publish roundwood removals statistics by account periode based on the Forest Trust Fund. Statistics Norway publishes the statistics by scaling periode.

The Statistics Act §§2-1 and 3-2

Not relevant

The statistics cover all industrial roundwood for sale. The wood registered is net removals excluding rot, unusable tops, etc. The quantity cut is given in cubic metres of solid wood inside bark by assortments, seller groups and buyer groups.

Until 1995/96, the statistics followed the working year (1 August-31 July). Since 1996, the figures have referred to calendar years.

Figures on wood fuel have not been included since 2006.

The figures are published annually.

Until 31 December 1995, quantities cut for sale from private forests and municipal forests were reported by the municipal forest administration, and wood from common forests and State forests by their respective management. The reports were collected by the forest administration in each county and forwarded to Statistics Norway.

Since January 1996, the figures on industrial wood have been provided by the Norwegian Agriculture Agency through the Register of Timber Trade and Diverted Forest Trust Fund. The firm Skog-Data AS manages the register. The data in the register comes from the scaling of the timber sold. As from 2015 data are received from The Directorate of Agreculture.

The figures on wood fuel have not been included since 2006. Before 2006, figures on wood fuel were estimated by the County Department of Agricultural Affairs.

All quantities of roundwood cut for sale during a calendar year are scaled and reported to Skog-Data AS.

Because of the changeover from one data source to another on 1 January 1996, the statistics for the working year 1995/96 are based on both the reports by the municipal forest administration and the Register of Timber Trade and Diverted Forest Trust Fund. Data for removals in the period 1 August to 31 December 1995 were reported on paper forms from the municipal forest administration and the management of common and State forests. Data for removals in the period 1 January to 31 July 1996 were collected electronically from Skog-Data AS. Since 1996, the data have been based on all scaled quantities of roundwood reported to Skog-Data AS. Quantities sold as stumpage are registered when the sales contract is signed.

The data are checked in Statistics Norway with the focus on likely buyer group and likely price level for each assortment. Missing information is collected from the County Department of Agricultural Affairs. Corrections and additional payments that refer to another year are removed, if discovered.

Roundwood quantity and gross margin are summarised per municipality, assortment, buyer and seller group. The average price per assortment is then estimated.

Not relevant

Any statistics based on three respondents or less are not published.

The breaks in the time series are explained in chapter 2.1.

The statistics on industrial roundwood removals are thought to be quite accurate at county level. Sources of errors are corrections and additional payments registered with insufficient information.

The quantities given in the assortment "Unsorted saw logs and pulpwood" are probably too high. This is due to the fact that some of the roundwood removals are reported on paper forms where assortments are not specified. These removals are all registered as "Unsorted saw logs and pulpwood". Wood sold as stumpage is included in "Unsorted saw logs and pulpwood". Wood sold as stumpage may be harvested another year than it is sold. Since 1996, the gross value of this wood has excluded costs for cutting and hauling. These two circumstances explain the varying average prices for this assortment.

Not relevant