Apparent consumption is the amount of timber, measured as wood raw material equivalent (WRME) underbark, used as wood and wood products by people and industries in the United Kingdom. It is calculated as total United Kingdom production plus imports, minus exports. Apparent consumption differs from actual consumption by the extent of changes in the level of stocks. It is not practical to collect information on actual consumption.

UK production of roundwood totalled 10.6 million m³ WRME underbark in 2015 (Table 3.1). A further 49.1 million m³ WRME underbark of wood and wood products were imported to the UK and 4.1 million m³ WRME underbark were exported, giving apparent consumption of 55.6 million m³ WRME underbark. This represented a 4% increase in apparent consumption from the previous year, but is still lower than the peak of 56.7 million m³ WRME underbark in 2007. These figures exclude recycled wood and recovered paper (see Table 3.3 for statistics on recovered paper).

Imports accounted for 82% of all wood (production + imports) in the UK in 2015.

Source: industry surveys, industry associations, UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs) and conversion factors to Wood Raw Material Equivalent (WRME).

Notes:

1. Excludes recovered paper.

2. UK production of roundwood is estimated from deliveries to wood processing industries and others, as in tables 2.5 and 2.6.

Figure 3.1 Apparent consumption of wood¹ in the UK, 1999-2015

Source: industry surveys, industry associations, UK overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue & Customs) and conversion factors to Wood Raw Material Equivalent (WRME).

Notes:

1. Excludes recovered paper.

2. UK production of roundwood is estimated from deliveries to wood processing industries and others, as in tables 2.5 and 2.6.