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The volume of harvested wood fell by 1.068 million m3 in 2023
The volume of harvested wood dropped, in 2023, by 1.068 million cubic meters as compared to the previous year, at 19.17 million cubic metres (gross volume) according to the data centralized by the National Institute for Statistics.
By forest species, resinous accounted for 37.5% of the total volume of harvested wood, beech for 32.3%, various hard species (acacia, paltin, ash, walnut, etc.) for 11.9%, oak for 10.6% and various soft species (lime, willow, poplar, etc.) for 7.7%.
The harvested wood in 2023 was destined in proportion of 95.4% to legal persons certified in logging and 4.6% of the total number of natural persons who may harvest timber from forests they own.
According to the quoted source, last year there were harvested 12.157 million cubic metres of wood in the public property forests, representing 63.4% of the total volume of harvested wood, the rest being harvested in the forests they own (30.8%) and the rest from forest vegetation on non-forest land (5.8%).
Compared to 2022, in 2023 the harvested timber volume from forest vegetation on non-forest land dropped by 10.4%, from the forest public property of the administrative-territorial units it was reduced by 8.5%, from private property forests by 8% and from public property forests by 1.7%.
In 2023, primary wood products accounted for 72.2% of the total volume of harvested wood mass, secondary wood products 22.9%, and hygienic wood products 4.9%. The volume of harvested wood harvested from hygiene products decreased by 41.9% compared to the previous year, from secondary products by 5% and from primary products by 1.1%.
At the level of the development regions, 28% of the total volume of wood was harvested in the North-East region, 23.3% in the Center region, 12.5% in the West region, 12% in the North-West region, 9.6% in the South-Muntenia region, 7.5% in the South-West Oltenia region, 6.7% in the South-East region and 0.4% in the Bucharest-Ilfov region.
The structure of the harvested wood species at the level of the development regions is as follows: resinous represents the majority of the harvested wood mass in the Northeast (54.9%) and Center (51.1%) development regions, oak in the Bucharest-Ilfov (42.1%) development region and beech in the West (46.3%), South-West-Oltenia (38.6%), North-West (35.6%), South-East (31.1%) and South-Muntenia (29.6%) development regions.
At the county level, in 2023, the largest amount of timber was harvested in Suceava County (12%), followed by Harghita (7.3%), Neamt (6.7%) and Bacau (5.7%), and the smallest quantities were harvested in Giurgiu (0.6%), Olt (0.5%), Ilfov, Ialomita, Galati and Braila (0.4%), Teleorman (0.3%), Constanta (0.2%) and Bucharest (less than 0.1%).
"In 2023, conservation cutting was carried out on 60.5% of the total area logged, regeneration cutting in coppice on 37.3%, regeneration cutting in groves on 2.0% and substitution-reforestation cutting of poorly productive and degraded stands on 0.2%," according to the NSI.
The areas from which all of the wood was harvested were those with clear-cuts (4.7% of the area covered by regeneration clear-cuts in coppice), with the areas concerned being reforested or used for other forestry purposes, the INS points out.