Introduction

This chapter contains information about UK imports and exports of wood products, and about the level of apparent consumption estimated from data for UK production, imports and exports.

Information on imports and exports mainly comes from the Overseas Trade Statistics compiled by HM Revenue & Customs. Estimates are provided at a UK level only. International comparisons of apparent consumption are provided in the International Forestry chapter. Further information on the data sources and methodology used to compile the figures is provided in the Sources chapter.

Figures for 2015 were previously published in “UK Wood Production and Trade: 2015 Provisional Figures”, released on 19 May 2016. Figures for 2015 have not been revised from those previously published. For further details on revisions, see the Trade section of the Sources chapter.

A copy of all trade tables is available to download as an Excel spreadsheet from the Tables for Download page.

Key findings

The main findings are:

UK imports:

• 6.3 million cubic metres of sawnwood in 2015, a 2% decrease from the 2014 figure;
• 3.2 million cubic metres of wood-based panels in 2015, a 1% decrease from 2014;
• 6.5 million tonnes of wood pellets in 2015, a 38% increase from 2014;
• 5.9 million tonnes of paper in 2015, unchanged from 2014.
• The total value of wood product imports in 2015 was £7.5 billion, a 5% increase from 2014; of which £4.4 billion was pulp and paper.
• Sawn softwood, particleboard, fibreboard, and paper and paperboard were overwhelmingly imported from EU countries in 2015.
• Sawn hardwood and wood pulp imports originated from a range of both EU and non-EU countries in 2015.
• The vast majority of UK imports of plywood and wood pellets in 2015 came from countries outwith the EU.

UK exports:

• The total value of wood product exports in 2015 was £1.6 billion, a 5% decrease from 2014; of which £1.4 billion was pulp and paper.