Markets for Scottish timber

All estimates are in green tonnes.

Some of the data available from Forestry Statistics doesn’t support country breakdowns, so the estimates for Scotland required further methods to be applied.

Timber and Trade (Forest Research website)

The methodology for producing the diagram’s estimates has changed slightly since last year, so the numbers will not be directly comparable to the 2022 data version.

• where no information is available about the origin of the timber, production is assumed to be using Scottish timber if mill is located in Scotland
• distribution of product markets for small sawmills is assumed to be the same as that for large sawmills, or smaller large sawmills where more appropriate
  • due to product breakdown only available for large sawmills through detailed sawmill survey
• 50% of Scottish timber going to pulp and paper mills from Scotland stays in Scotland
• woodfuel is made up of public sector removals for woodfuel, private sector removals for woodfuel, and roundwood used for energy by paper mills
• any discrepancies between total removals and total outputs were included in “other” categories

Sawmills and other wood processors are keen to recover the timber arising from storms. The aim should be to maximise the value.

Windblown trees still attached to their root plates will not degrade immediately. But some species will lose value more quickly than others, for example Scots pine. This rapidly develops a fungal blue stain in warm weather.

Blue-stained pine is unsuitable for most sawn timber markets so, where possible, harvesting and marketing pine (rather than spruce) should be the priority.

However some markets are less exacting, including:

• wood-based panels
• wood pellets
• woody biomass (woodchips/woodfibre) 
• firewood

These markets are able to utilise the full range of products arising from the windblow over an extended period.

There may be opportunities to sell into more specialist markets. For example:

• smaller amounts of hardwoods
• conifers such as larch and Douglas fir
   

Like farming, many markets for wood require assurance that the timber has come from sustainable forest management.

In the UK this woodland certification is provided through the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).

Choose the right FSC certification or licence (Forest Stewardship Council website) 

Get Certified (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification website)

Many wood processors must ensure at least 70% of their roundwood intake is certificated against either one of these two schemes, to make sure their products can be certified.

Capacity to take uncertified wood can be limited. Certification must be gained prior to any felling and marketing of the timber and does involve cost and take time.

Not all markets need certified timber. Some will take all legally harvested timber that have the correct felling permissions/licenses in place, including:

• local mills 
• biomass 
• firewood markets

Understand whether certification is likely to help secure access to higher value markets.

If you are selling fuelwood directly to consumers, Woodsure can provide information on woodfuel assurance requirements.

Woodsure scheme (Woodsure website)

A small scale scheme for Scottish timber is also available.

Scottish Working Woods (external website)