Brussels, 20/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - According to statistics published on Monday 20 October by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, in 2005, forests and other wooded land covered 177 million hectares in the EU27, or 42% of its land area. This data was published during European Forest Week, which takes place between 20-24 October 2008 (http://www.europeanforestweek.org/home/fr ).
Eurostat data demonstrates that the largest area covered with forests and other wooded land was found in Sweden (31 mn hectares or 75% of its land area), Spain (28 mn or 57%), Finland (23 mn or 77%), France (17 mn or 31%), Germany (11 mn or 32%) and Italy (11 mn or 37%). Together these six Member States accounted for more than two thirds of total forest area in the EU27.
The Member States with the largest proportion of their land area covered by forest and other wooded land in 2005 were Finland (77%), Sweden (75%) and Slovenia (65%), while the lowest shares were found in Malta (1%), Ireland (10%), the Netherlands (11%) and the United Kingdom (12%). In the EU27, 73% of the forest (129 million hectares) was available for wood supply in 2005. Among the six Member States with the largest area covered by forests and other wooded land, the proportion of forest available for wood supply varied from 37% in Spain and 69% in Sweden to 99% in Germany and 86% in Finland. In 2005, the forest available for wood supply produced a net annual increment of 764 m3 in the EU27, of which 461 million m3 or 60% was felled
Roundwood production. Roundwood production comprises all wood removed from the forest and other wooded land. In the EU27, roundwood production has increased by nearly 20% between 201-06, to reach 426 million m3, although this was down from the 454 million m3 recorded in 2005. the largest producers of roundwood in 2006 were Sweden (65 million m3), Germany and France (both 62 mn m3), Finland (51 mn m3) and Poland (32 mn m3), which together accounted for nearly two thirds of EU27 production.. (L.C/trans: rt/rh)