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The total volume of roundwood input purchases was 3.3 million cubic metres in 2023, an increase of 6% from 2022.
Roundwood purchases from publicly-owned forests comprised 69% of 2023 purchases, compared with 72% in 2022.
Large sawlog accounted for the highest proportion of roundwood purchase volume at 40% in 2023, followed by pulpwood (28%) and small sawlog (25%).
Purchases of non-roundwood products (including brash and tree stumps, woodchip, and sawdust) were 448 thousand tonnes in 2023.
Note: Product defintions and a link to the survey questionnaire are available in the Background Notes.
Figure 1 shows the volume of roundwood input purchases from public and private forests. In 2023 the total volume of roundwood input purchases was 3.3 million cubic metres, with purchases from public forests comprising 2.3 million cubic metres and purchases from private forests comprising 1 million cubic metres.
| Total roundwood purchases | Roundwood purchases from publicly-owned forests | Roundwood purchases from privately-owned forests | |
| 2015 | 2.778 | 2.063 | 0.715 |
| 2016 | 2.856 | 2.237 | 0.619 |
| 2017 | 2.937 | 2.213 | 0.724 |
| 2018 | 3.002 | 2.198 | 0.804 |
| 2019 | 3.198 | 2.445 | 0.753 |
| 2020 | 3.066 | 2.131 | 0.934 |
| 2021 | 3.212 | 2.044 | 1.168 |
| 2022 | 3.111 | 2.232 | 0.879 |
| 2023 | 3.305 | 2.295 | 1.01 |
Figure 2 shows the volume of roundwood purchases by product in 2023. Large sawlog accounted for the highest proportion of roundwood purchase volume at 1,312 thousand cubic metres in 2023, followed by pulpwood at 921 thousand cubic metres and small sawlog at 831 thousand cubic metres.
| volume | |
| Large sawlog | 1312 |
| Small sawlog | 831 |
| Stakewood | 101 |
| Pulpwood | 921 |
| Roundwood for use as biomass | 140 |
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (02 December 2024) published Wood Input Purchases by Industry 2023.
Commenting on the release Niamh Shanahan, Statistician in the Environment Division, said:
"In 2023, the industry purchased 3.3 million cubic metres of roundwood, which is wood removed from the forest in its natural state. This marked a 6% increase compared to the 3.1 million cubic metres purchased in 2022 (See Table 1A)."
Roundwood purchases from publicly-owned forests made up 69% (2.3 million cubic metres) of 2023 purchases with the remainder from privately-owned forests (See Figure 1, Tables 1D, and 1E).
Large sawlog accounted for the highest proportion of roundwood purchase volume at approximately 40% in 2023, followed by pulpwood (28%) and small sawlog (25%) (See Figure 2 and Table 3A). Approximately 4% of roundwood purchase volume was for use as biomass.
In 2023, purchases of non-roundwood products such as brash and tree stumps, woodchip and sawdust totalled 448 thousand tonnes (See Tables 1F and 2F)."