It is estimated that a total of 12.2 million green tonnes of roundwood was removed from UK woodlands in 2018.  

Softwood accounted for most (93%) removals from UK woodland and totalled 11.4 million green tonnes in 2018 (Table 2.1).  This represented a 4% increase on the previous year’s figure.  

Hardwood removals totalled 0.8 million green tonnes in 2018. 

Private sector woodlands accounted for 60% of softwood production and 90% of hardwood production in 2018.

Table 2.1 Wood production, 2009-2018

^{Source: Forestry England, Forestry and Land Scotland, Natural Resources Wales, Forest Service, industry surveys, industry associations.}

^Notes:

^{1. FE: Forestry England, FLS: Forestry and Land Scotland, NRW: Natural Resources Wales, FS: Forest Service (Northern Ireland).}

^{2. Private sector: removals from all other woodland (including some publicly owned woodland).}

^{3. Most hardwood production in the UK comes from private sector woodland; the figures are estimates based on reported deliveries to wood processing industries and others.}

^{4. The increase in hardwood removals between 2016 and 2017 is largely attributed to a revised estimate for deliveries of UK grown hardwood used for woodfuel (see Table 2.6). This new estimate should not be interpreted as an increase in a single year.}

^{Longer time series of the above table, including estimates by country (England/ Wales/ Scotland/ Northern Ireland) are available from the Data downloads web page at: www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/data-downloads/.}

Additional resources

Sources chapter: Wood production