Around half Scotland's timber comes from the national forest estate and half
through the private sector, totalling 6 million m3 of timber per
year.
Production could increase to around 10 million m3 of timber per
year over the next 10 to 15 years, with most of the additional
volume coming from the private sector.
The Scottish forestry and timber industry already produces a
wide range of valuable products. High quality logwood goes to
sawmills and timber processors for use in the building trade and
furniture supply.
However, there is the capacity to produce woodfuel from a wide
range of forestry material which is not suitable for other markets,
such as timber harvesting by-products and thinnings. There are
other benefits to the process of wood
fuel harvesting:
- Improvement in the quality of existing timber resources through
thinning and maintenance
- Support for other management objectives, e.g. biodiversity and
access/recreation
- Encouragement of new woodland creation.