Apparent consumption is the amount of timber 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.

As table 3.1 covers a broad range of products (including secondary processed wood products), volumes are expressed in wood raw material equivalent (WRME) underbark.  WRME volumes represent the amount of wood that would have been required to make the product.

UK production of roundwood totalled 11.3 million m³ WRME underbark in 2018 (Table 3.1).  A further 49.0 million m³ WRME underbark of wood and wood products were imported to the UK and 3.9 million m³ WRME underbark were exported, giving apparent consumption of 56.4 million m³ WRME underbark.  This represented a 1% decrease in apparent consumption from the previous year.  These figures exclude recycled wood and recovered paper (see Table 3.3 for statistics on recovered paper).

Imports accounted for 81% of all wood (production + imports) in the UK in 2018.

Table 3.1 Apparent consumption of wood¹ in the UK, 2009-2018

^{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, 1999-2018

^{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.}

Additional resources

Sources chapter: Trade