SAWMILL SURVEY 2000 Report on the survey of sawmill consumption and production in Great Britain in 2000. Prepared by Economics & Statistics Unit of the Forestry Commission in association with the Forestry Commission Advisory Panel (FCAP) Sub-Committee on Supply and Demand. Vani Balachandran and Alister Henderson, Economic & Statistics Unit, Forestry Commission. September 2001 A National Statistics publication Official statistics bearing the National Statistics logo are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from political interference. You can also find National Statistics on the internet – go to www.statistics.gov.uk This report was prepared by the HQ Economics & Statistics Unit of the Forestry Commission. Any enquiries should be addressed to: Alister Henderson Economics & Statistics Unit Forestry Commission 231 Corstorphine Road Edinburgh EH12 7AT United Kingdom Telephone: +44 (0)131 314 6337 Fax: +44 (0) 131 316 4344 E-mail: [email protected] CONTENTS Page Introduction 3 GB Sawmills – Annual Survey 2000 4 Table 1 Consumption and production 1994-2000 4 Table 2 Number of sawmills 2000 5 Table 3 Softwood consumption 2000 6 Table 4 Softwood production 2000 6 Table 5 Summary softwood statistics 1980-2000 7 Table 6 Hardwood consumption 2000 8 Table 7 Hardwood production 2000 8 Table 8 Summary hardwood statistics 1980-2000 9 GB Sawmills – Detailed Survey 2000 (Mills with over 5000m3 production) 10 Table 9 Flow of softwood logs between countries 11 Table 10 Softwood – breakdown by size category 12 Table 11 Softwood – breakdown by country 13 Table 12 Hardwood 15 Table 13 Additional facilities of mills 16 Table 14 Sawmill employment 17 Table 15 Sawmill employment – breakdown by country 17 Appendix 1 – Survey methodology 18 Appendix 2 – Survey questionnaires 20 1 2 GB SAWMILL SURVEY 2000 INTRODUCTION This report gives results from the Sawmill Survey for 2000. This survey is designed to find out about mills that carry out primary processing of British logs. In the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC), this is part of heading 201: sawmilling and planing of wood, impregnation of wood. The survey excludes mills that only saw imported timber, and those that only saw roughsawn timber or small roundwood, which are also in SIC 2001. Statistics on the sawing of small roundwood for producing round fencing material are collected by a separate survey, reported in British Timber Statistics, which also contains statistics on other processing industries using small roundwood. The Forestry Commission does not collect statistics on secondary processing or on the processing of imported wood. The survey of sawmills in Great Britain is carried out by the Economics & Statistics Unit of the Forestry Commission, in association with the Forestry Commission Advisory Panel Sub-Committee on Supply and Demand (SSD). We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of all sawmills that completed the survey questionnaire, of the UK Forest Products Association and the members of SSD who provided advice. The report consists of two sections; the first reports results from the annual survey, the second results from the detailed survey of the largest mills which is now carried out every second year. Figures in the tables are individually rounded, so the constituent items may not add to the totals given. 3 GB SAWMILLS – ANNUAL SURVEY 2000 This section gives results for timber consumption and sawnwood production from the Sawmill Survey for 2000. Survey Responses In the 2000 Survey 374 questionnaires were sent out. Following a reminder and a telephone call to the largest non-respondents, 193 responses were received, a response rate of 52%. The latest estimates for consumption and production in the last seven years, including estimates for non- respondents, are shown in Table 1 expressed in thousand cubic metres underbark for consumption, and thousand cubic metres sawnwood for production. While the 2000 sawmill survey was being carried out, Forest Enterprise offices around Britain were asked to provide information on mills in their area, who had not responded to the annual sawmill survey since 1998 or earlier. Estimates for 1994-1999 have been revised to include information supplied during this exercise. Revisions were also made to historical data for sawmills that reported data for the first time in 2000, and also to take account of mill closures before 2000 which were only notified to us during the 2000 survey. Table 1: Consumption and production 1994 - 2000 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Softwood: consumption 000 m3 ub 3,366 3,329 3,425 3,490 3,570 3,859 3,936 production 000 m3 1,923 1,899 1,917 1,980 1,995 2,147 2,159 Hardwood: consumption 000 m3 ub 316 330 258 259 227 205 183 production 000 m3 180 190 151 143 126 119 107 Imported Round Timber Of the mills covered by the survey (those that saw British timber) it is estimated that 16 mills used imported round timber in 2000, totalling 9,200 m3 ub softwood and 7,900 m3 ub hardwood. This is based on responses for 2000 and estimates for non-respondents that had reported using imported round timber in earlier years. 4 Number of sawmills Based on all the 2000 survey responses, together with data from previous years for those who did not respond for 2000, it is estimated that there were 297 sawmills processing British timber in 2000, of which 178 produced at least 1,000 m3 sawnwood. Of those 178 mills, 132 processed softwood only, 11 hardwood only, and 35 both hardwood and softwood. Of the 119 smaller mills, 48 processed softwood only, 17 hardwood only, and 54 both hardwood and softwood. Table 2: Number of sawmills 1994 - 2000 Size Category 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 (production) Great Britain 483 440 393 367 339 314 297 <1,000m3 252 215 187 170 144 136 119 1,000 - 4,999m3 144 139 122 116 116 98 100 5,000 - 24,999m3 66 66 62 58 57 56 53 25,000 - 49,999m3 14 15 15 15 11 10 12 50,000m3+ 7 5 7 8 11 14 13 Scotland 121 110 98 97 93 84 85 <1,000m3 57 47 42 43 36 30 29 1,000 - 4,999m3 29 29 24 22 25 24 27 5,000 - 24,999m3 26 25 22 22 22 20 18 25,000 - 49,999m3 5776424 50,000m3+ 4234687 England 324 293 260 238 215 200 185 <1,000m3 176 151 128 113 95 93 81 1,000 - 4,999m3 107 100 90 86 82 66 67 5,000 - 24,999m3 34 36 34 31 30 32 28 25,000 - 49,999m3 5466555 50,000m3+ 2222344 Wales 38 37 35 32 31 30 27 <1,000m3 19 17 17 14 13 13 9 1,000 - 4,999m3 81088986 5,000 - 24,999m3 6565547 25,000 - 49,999m3 4423233 50,000m3+ 1122222 5 British Softwood Consumption of British softwood (in thousand cubic metres underbark) and production (in thousand cubic metres sawnwood) are shown in the following tables, including estimates for non respondents. Total softwood consumption was 3.94 million m3 underbark and sawn softwood production was 2.16 million m3 sawnwood. While consumption rose by around 2% from 1999 , production rose by only around 0.5%. Apparent recovery (calculated as the ratio of sawnwood production to underbark log consumption) was 55%. Table 3: Softwood consumption - 2000 000 m3 underbark Sawmill size category (000 m3 total production: hard + soft) <1 1 - <5 5 - <25 25 - <50 50+ Total GB Total 53 353 800 762 1,969 3,936 Scotland 16 130 379 251 951 1,728 England 36 192 325 318 639 1,510 Wales 1 31 96 192 378 698 Table 4: Softwood production - 2000 000 m3 sawnwood Sawmill size category (000 m3 total production: hard + soft) <1 1 - <5 5 - <25 25 - <50 50+ Total GB Total 31 211 447 405 1,065 2,159 Scotland 10 76 206 141 520 953 England 21 116 185 161 354 836 Wales 0 19 56 103 191 369 Summary Table 5 (on the next page) gives a summary of production and consumption, for softwood for the years 1994 to 2000. 6 Table 5 - Summary softwood statistics: 1994 - 2000 Log consumption Sawnwood production Apparent recovery Year (000 m3 ub) (000 m3 sawn) (%) Great Britain 1994 3,366 1,923 57 1995 3,329 1,899 57 1996 3,425 1,917 56 1997 3,490 1,980 57 1998 3,570 1,995 56 1999 3,859 2,147 56 2000 3,936 2,159 55 Scotland 1994 1,440 814 57 1995 1,394 784 56 1996 1,444 799 55 1997 1,478 823 56 1998 1,504 834 55 1999 1,614 894 55 2000 1,728 953 55 England 1994 1,426 828 58 1995 1,381 810 59 1996 1,399 803 57 1997 1,407 823 58 1998 1,458 835 57 1999 1,564 892 57 2000 1,510 836 55 Wales 1994 499 281 56 1995 554 304 55 1996 581 316 54 1997 605 333 55 1998 608 326 54 1999 681 361 53 2000 698 369 53 7 British Hardwood Consumption of British hardwood (in thousand cubic metres underbark) and production (in thousand cubic metres sawnwood) are shown in the following tables, again including estimates for non respondents. Results for the larger categories are combined, to avoid disclosure of individual returns. Total hardwood consumption was 183 thousand m3 underbark and total sawn hardwood production was 107 thousand m3 sawnwood, both down around 10% on 1999. Apparent recovery is 59%, slightly up on 1999.