The total volume of input purchases of roundwood, which is wood removed from the forest in its natural state, was 3.5 million cubic metres in 2024, an increase of 6% from 2023.
Roundwood purchases from privately-owned forests increased to 34% of the total purchases in 2024, compared with 31% in 2023 and 28% in 2022. Roundwood purchases from publicly-owned forests accounted for 66% of 2024 purchases.
Large sawlog accounted for the highest proportion of roundwood purchase volume at 42% in 2024, followed by pulpwood (27%) and small sawlog (24%).
Purchases of non-roundwood products (including woodchip and sawdust) were 436 thousand tonnes in 2024.
Note: Product definitions 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 2024 the total volume of roundwood input purchases was 3.5 million cubic metres, with purchases from public forests comprising 2.3 million cubic metres and purchases from private forests comprising 1.2 million cubic metres (See Tables 1A, 1D and 1E). Coniferous roundwood accounted for over 99% of roundwood input purchases in 2024 (See Tables 1B and 1C).
| Total roundwood purchases | Roundwood purchases from publicly-owned forests | Roundwood purchases from privately-owned forests | |
| 2015 | 2.788 | 2.069 | 0.72 |
| 2016 | 2.867 | 2.243 | 0.624 |
| 2017 | 2.949 | 2.219 | 0.73 |
| 2018 | 3.014 | 2.204 | 0.81 |
| 2019 | 3.21 | 2.451 | 0.759 |
| 2020 | 3.078 | 2.137 | 0.94 |
| 2021 | 3.224 | 2.051 | 1.174 |
| 2022 | 3.123 | 2.238 | 0.885 |
| 2023 | 3.318 | 2.301 | 1.016 |
| 2024 | 3.524 | 2.328 | 1.196 |
Figure 2 shows the volume of roundwood purchases by product in 2024. Large sawlog accounted for the highest proportion of roundwood purchase volume at 1,477 thousand cubic metres in 2024, followed by pulpwood at 934 thousand cubic metres and small sawlog at 860 thousand cubic metres (See Tables 2A, 2D and 2E). Coniferous products accounted for 99% of roundwood products in 2024 (See Tables 2B and 2C).
| volume | |
| Large sawlog | 1477 |
| Small sawlog | 860 |
| Stakewood | 91 |
| Pulpwood | 934 |
| Roundwood for use as biomass | 161 |
Purchases of non-roundwood products were at 436 thousand tonnes in 2024 (See Table 3A). Woodchip accounted for the highest proportion of non-roundwood purchases at 312 thousand tonnes, followed by sawdust at 66 thousand tonnes (See Table 3B).
In 2024 total input purchases of roundwood and non-roundwood products were at 3.6 million tonnes (See Table 4A). Roundwood purchases from public forests accounted for 2 million tonnes, with roundwood purchases from private forests accounting for 1.1 million tonnes (See Tables 4D and 4E). Coniferous roundwood accounted for over 99% of roundwood tonnes in 2024 (See Tables 4B and 4C).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (08 December 2025) published Wood Input Purchases by Industry 2024.
Commenting on the release Niamh Shanahan, Statistician in the Environment Division, said:
"In 2024, the industry purchased 3.5 million cubic metres of roundwood, which is wood removed from the forest in its natural state. This marked a 6% increase compared with the 3.3 million cubic metres purchased in 2023 (See Table 1A).
Roundwood purchases from publicly-owned forests made up 66% (2.3 million cubic metres) of 2024 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 42% in 2024, followed by pulpwood (27%) and small sawlog (24%) (See Figure 2 and Table 2A). Approximately 5% of roundwood purchase volume was for use as biomass.
In 2024, purchases of non-roundwood products such as woodchip, sawdust, and post-consumer recovered wood (wood made available for reuse or recycling) totalled 436 thousand tonnes (See Tables 3A and 3B)."