Exports
Timber and timber products made up the bulk or 85.5 percent of total forestry product exports in the first nine months of 2016 (85% in the nine-month period in 2015), accounting for €1.329 billion.
Timber exports in January-September this year included €443.479 million worth of sawn timber, down 1.4% year-on-year and accounting for 28.5 percent of total forestry industry exports. Firewood exports rose 3.2 percent to EUR 207.335 million and made up 13.3 percent of total Latvian forest industry exports. Round timber exports fell 17.2 percent to EUR 97.212 million, accounting for 6.3 percent of total forestry exports.
Exports of wooden furniture rose 3.6 percent year-on-year to EUR 101.328 million, accounting for 6.5 percent of total forestry product exports (6.5 percent in January-September 2015), and exports of paper, cardboard and their products fell 6.5 percent to EUR 80.315 million, making up 5.2 percent of total exports in the first nine months of 2016 (5.7 percent in January-September 2015).
In January-September this year Latvia supplied its forestry products mainly to the UK (19.5 percent), Sweden (10.4 percent) and Germany (10 percent). As compared to the first nine months of 2015, forestry industry exports to the UK grew 6.2 percent to EUR 302.713 million, exports to Sweden increased 13.5 percent to EUR 161.481 million, and exports to Germany were up 0.8 percent to EUR 155.256 million.
In the first nine months of 2015, Latvia exported EUR 1.514 billion worth of forestry industry products.
Imports
In the first nine months of 2016, Latvia imported EUR 546.691 million worth of forestry products, which was a rise by 7.3 percent from January-September 2015.
Timber and timber products made up most or 55.3 percent of total forestry product imports in the first nine months of 2016 (52.8 percent in January-September 2015), accounting for EUR 302.562 million and rising by 12.5 percent from the same period a year ago.
Timber imports included EUR 77.942 million worth of sawn timber, up 15.3 percent against the first nine months of last year and accounting for 14.3 percent of total forestry product imports. Round timber imports fell 12.5 percent to EUR 58.558 million, or 10.7 percent of total forestry product imports.
Paper, cardboard and their products accounted for 36.2 percent of total forestry product imports in January-September 2016 (38.1 percent in January-September 2015), or EUR 197.684 million, up 1.9 percent compared to the first nine months of 2015.
Lithuania supplied the largest amount of forestry industry products to Latvia in the first nine months of 2016, accounting for EUR 95.372 million, or 17.4 percent of total forestry industry imports. Russia supplied EUR 72.575 million worth of products, or 13.3 percent, and Estonia supplied products for EUR 69.386 million, or 12.7 percent. Compared to the first nine months of 2015, forest industry imports from Lithuania rose by 9.8 percent, imports from Russia increased by 28.6 percent, and imports from Estonia grew 9.7 percent.
In the first nine months of 2015, Latvia imported EUR 509.675 million worth of forestry products.
