The role of the wood mechanical industry in the Swedish forest industry cluster

Abstract

The forest and forest products form one of the most important basis for the transfer to a bio-based economy in Sweden. About 75% of the area covered by forest in Sweden is used industrially to produce raw material for the wood-refining industries. Every year, this cluster uses 75 million m 3 of roundwood and has an export value of €12 billion. This review paper is devoted to the wood mechanical industry, i.e. the industry which turns the forest into sawn timber, packaging, construction wood, furniture and interior fittings. The sawmills consume about half of the volume of softwood which is felled, and about two-thirds of the sawn timber go to export without any further refining within the country. Nevertheless, in spite of the relatively low degree of refinement in the sawmill and the fact that the sawmills in general over time have a very low profitability, they are responsible for 70-80% of the forest owners' profits on the sale of timber. An increased upgrading of the sawn timber within the country is desirable from a national economic viewpointincreased employment opportunities, increased export income, etc. It should then in the first place be for products with a higher added value, such as furniture and fittings. Today, the refinement value is 15-20 times higher for products from joinery and furniture industries compared to that of the sawn timber, and the added value of the wood within the building industry is only about 1.5 times.

Forest Biomass Availability and Utilization Potential in Sweden: A Review

“…The Swedish forest sector is defined to include wood resources as well as the use of these resources, i.e., forest products and energy uses of wood. According to Sandberg et al [22], forest products include all the primary wood products manufactured in the forest processing sectors (sawnwood, wood-based panels, paper and paperboard) and the main inputs or partly processed products used in other sectors (round wood, pulpwood, wood residues, recovered paper). Secondary or value added forest products (such as wooden doors, window frames and furniture) are not covered, although trends in these markets have been taken into consideration.…”

“…This trend is expected to increase the need of new wooden furniture and joinery products and to create opportunities for increased cooperation between the building industry and the furniture and joinery industries. The machining industry in Sweden would be forced to satisfy the modern building processes that require more refined timber in the form of components and systems in order to achieve a high productivity [22].…”

Long-term outlook for wood construction in Europe

“…The largest sub-sector by volume is sawnwood, with the production of 102.9 million m 3 in the EU in 2014 (FAOStat 2015). In contrast, most of the value added is generated in the secondary processed products industry (Sandberg et al 2014), consisting of joinery and carpentry, wood-based composite and engineered wood product (EWP) sub-sectors. The EWP markets have expanded rapidly in Europe in the 2000s (Pahkasalo et al 2014).…”

“…Around 70 % of the end uses of wood products are related to construction (Hänninen et al 2007), including structural and non-structural frames, scaffolding, interior and outdoor products, window frames and doors, floors, roof trusses and facades (Sandberg et al 2014). The other major uses include the manufacture of furniture and packaging materials.…”

Untitled

“…In this paper, we explore investment decisions on manufacturing automation in the wood products industry, defined as the industry that refines wood as it passes through sawmills and transforms it into products such as furniture, joinery, and home-building materials (Sandberg et al 2014). Automation plays an important role in connection with the competitiveness of the European industry.…”