Export, Good for Business, Industry, Latvia, Statistics, Woodwork

Imports

Timber and timber products made up most or 62.5% of total forestry product imports in January-August 2018 (55.6 a year ago), accounting for 381.966 mln euros and rising by 31% from the same period a year ago.

Sawn-timber imports grew 20.1% year-on-year to 115.678 mln euros, round timber imports grew 55.2% to 78.079 mln euros, and plywood imports rose 17% to 39.696 mln euros.

Paper, cardboard and their products accounted for 183.872 mln euros of Latvia’s eight-month forestry product imports, up 4.6% compared to January-August 2017. These products made up 30.1% (33.5% a year ago) of total forest product imports in the eight-month period.

Lithuania supplied the largest amount of forestry industry products to Latvia in January-August 2018, accounting for 125.85 mln euros, or 20.6% of total forestry industry imports.

Belarus supplied 93.622 mln euros worth of products, or 15.3%, and Russia supplied products for 82.896 mln euros, or 13.6%. Compared to January-August 2017, forest industry imports from Lithuania rose by 21.5%, imports from Belarus increased by 73%, and imports from Russia grew 21.8%.

During the first eight months of 2017, Latvia imported 524.458 mln euros worth of forestry products.

Exports

In the first eight months of 2018, Latvia exported 1.715 bln euros worth of forestry products, up 14.5% against the same period last year.

Timber and timber products made up the bulk or 86.2% (84.3% a year ago) of total forestry product exports in the first eight months of 2018, accounting for 1.478 bln euros and rising 17.1% year-on-year.

Timber exports in January-August 2018 included 460.376 mln euros worth of sawn timber, up 6.9% year-on-year.

Firewood exports rose 3.9% to 195.360 mln euros, and exports of woodchip plates climbed 24.7% to 149.181 mln euros. Exports of plywood declined 6% to 147.401 mln euros, and round-timber exports grew twice to 186.639 mln euros.

According to the Agriculture Ministry’s data, exports of wooden furniture declined 4.8% from January-August 2017 to 104.435 mln euros, or 6.1% (7.3% a year ago) of total forestry product exports, and exports of paper, cardboard and their products grew 6.9% to 78.515 mln euros, or 4.6% (4.9% a year ago) of total forestry product exports.

In January-August 2018, Latvia supplied forestry products mainly to the UK (17.8%), Sweden (12.9%) and Estonia (10.6%). In comparison with January-August 2017, exports of forestry products to the UK grew 18.7% to 305.243 mln euros, exports to Sweden rose 48.4% to 220.527 mln euros, and exports to Estonia picked up 13.3% to 181.045 mln euros.

In the first eight months of 2017, Latvia exported 1.498 bln euros worth of forestry products.