Korea Forest Service: "Increase in Domestic Timber Usage, Self-Sufficiency Rate Also Rising"

The usage and self-sufficiency rate of domestically produced wood both increased simultaneously. In contrast, the usage of imported wood decreased, creating a clear contrast. This suggests that policies to promote domestic wood are gaining momentum.

According to the Korea Forest Service’s “2023 Wood Usage Survey” released on the 8th, the usage of domestic wood last year totaled 5.3 million cubic meters, an increase of 250,000 cubic meters compared to the previous year (5.05 million cubic meters). During the same period, the wood self-sufficiency rate also rose by 3.5 percentage points from 15.1% the previous year to 18.6%.

Provided by Korea Forest Service

This is significant as it represents a notable achievement amid an overall decline in total wood consumption in the country. Last year, total wood usage was 28.43 million cubic meters, down 2.37 million cubic meters from 30.8 million cubic meters the previous year. The decrease in wood usage is believed to be largely due to weakened private consumption caused by high interest rates and inflation, as well as a slowdown in the domestic construction market.

What stands out is that while domestic wood usage increased last year, imported wood usage decreased. In fact, imported wood usage last year was 23.13 million cubic meters, down 2.61 million cubic meters compared to 25.74 million cubic meters the previous year.

In a situation where overall wood usage declined due to external economic factors, the increase in domestic wood usage and the decrease in imported wood usage were clearly evident. This highlights the practical effectiveness of policies promoting domestic wood in the field.

The domestic wood usage figures used as the basis for the survey included 3.19 million cubic meters of domestic logs and 2.11 million cubic meters of other raw materials besides logs. Imported wood usage included 23.13 million cubic meters, consisting of 2.21 million cubic meters of imported logs and 20.92 million cubic meters of imported wood products.

As domestic wood usage increased, the total sales of wood products also rose. Last year, the total sales of domestic wood production companies reached 3.6957 trillion KRW, an increase of 119.5 billion KRW compared to 3.5762 trillion KRW the previous year. Supported by this, total sales of wood products (both domestic and imported) last year amounted to 8.8314 trillion KRW, up 558.4 billion KRW from 8.273 trillion KRW the previous year.

Further detailed information regarding the survey results can be found in the administrative information statistics section on the Korea Forest Service website and the forestry information statistics section on the Korea Forestry Promotion Institute website.

Starting with this survey, the Korea Forest Service changed the basis for calculating the wood self-sufficiency rate from the permitted volume of wood harvesting (logging) to the actual usage volume of domestic wood by individuals and companies. Additionally, the survey population for the wood usage survey increased from 3,658 in 2020 to 5,957 last year, and the survey method was changed from sampling to a full census to ensure reliability and accuracy of the results.

Park Eun-sik, Director of the Forest Industry Policy Bureau at the Korea Forest Service, said, “The continuous increase in domestic wood usage over the past three years is very encouraging,” adding, “The Korea Forest Service will continue to implement effective policies to promote wood usage for the development of the domestic wood industry.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.