The total value of roundwood removals was €214 million in 2023, a 16% decrease from €253 million in 2022 and a 6% decrease from €227 million in 2021 (See Table 1A).
Roundwood removals increased by 1.5% from 4.19 million cubic metres in 2022 to 4.25 million cubic metres in 2023 and decreased by 2% from 4.33 million cubic metres in 2021 (See Table 3A).
Removals from privately-owned forests were 1.8 million cubic metres in 2023 (See Table 1E).
In 2023, removals from public forests comprised 58% of the total removals volume (See Table 1D).
Coniferous roundwood accounted for over 99% of removals in 2023 (See Table 1B).
Large sawlog accounted for the highest proportion of roundwood removals volume at 38% in 2023, followed by pulpwood (27%) and small sawlog (25%) (See Table 3A).
In the publicly-owned forest category, only removals of publicly-owned trees are included. See Background Notes for product definitions.
Note: A link to the survey questionnaire is available in the Background Notes.
| Total Removals | Removals from publicly-owned forests | Removals from privately-owned forests | |
| 2015 | 3.312 | 2.235 | 1.077 |
| 2016 | 3.445 | 2.59 | 0.856 |
| 2017 | 3.698 | 2.592 | 1.106 |
| 2018 | 3.834 | 2.529 | 1.305 |
| 2019 | 4.007 | 2.72 | 1.288 |
| 2020 | 3.914 | 2.336 | 1.578 |
| 2021 | 4.333 | 2.235 | 2.098 |
| 2022 | 4.186 | 2.375 | 1.811 |
| 2023 | 4.248 | 2.447 | 1.801 |
| volume | |
| Large sawlog | 1626 |
| Small sawlog | 1055 |
| Stakewood | 149 |
| Pulpwood | 1152 |
| Fuelwood | 204 |
| Roundwood for use as biomass | 61 |
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (11 September 2024) published Forest Wood Removals 2023.
Commenting on the release Niamh Shanahan, Statistician in the Environment Division, said: "In 2023 the volume of roundwood removals was 4.25 million cubic metres (See Table 1A). This was an increase of 1.5% compared with the 2022 roundwood removals of 4.19 million cubic metres. Removals from privately-owned forests decreased by 1% compared with 2022, while removals from publicly-owned forests increased by 3%. Coniferous roundwood accounted for 99% of removals in 2023 (See Table 1B).
Removals from publicly-owned forests made up 58% of the 2023 roundwood removals volume (2.4 million cubic metres) with the remainder coming from privately-owned forests (See Figure 1, Tables 1D, and 1E).
The total value of removals in 2023 was €214 million which was a 16% decrease from the total value in 2022 and a 6% decrease from the total value in 2021 (See Table 1A). In contrast roundwood removals volume was 1.5% higher in 2023 compared with 2022, and 2% lower in 2023 compared with 2021.
Large sawlog accounted for the highest proportion of roundwood removals volume at 38% in 2023, followed by pulpwood (27%), and small sawlog (25%) (See Figure 2 and Table 3A). In 2022, large sawlog contributed to 38% of roundwood removals with pulpwood at 27% and small sawlog at 26%. These three products contributed to around 90% of annual roundwood removals volume."