Uses

Major end-use categories in production and trade statistics
End uses of selected tropical timber species

Many products are extracted from forests, including industrial timber, wood that will be used as fuel, as well as food (mushrooms, edible plants, etc.), fodder and other non-wood forest products (NWFPs). This section is primarily concerned with roundwood, an aggregate including both fuelwood and industrial roundwood. The focus is on different end-use categories that have long been recognized in production and trade statistics.

Major end-use categories

Wood obtained from removals is used as fuel for purposes such as cooking, heating or power production (woodfuel) or for the manufacture of timber products (industrial roundwood). In the logging of mixed forest stands, the better trees (sawlogs and veneer logs) are usually used for timber production, while the inferior trees and components (pulpwood) are harvested for the production of pulp. Sawlogs and veneer logs will be sawn or chipped lengthways for the manufacture of sawnwood or railway sleepers (ties) or used for the production of veneer (mainly by peeling or slicing). Pulpwood is used for the production of pulp (for further manufacture into paper, paperboard, fibreboard and other cellulose products), particle boards (wood-based panels manufactured from small pieces of wood and other lingo-cellulosic materials) or fibreboard (manufactured from fibres of wood). Other industrial roundwood comprises poles, piling, posts, fencing, pitprops tanning, distillation and match blocks, etc.

Selected components of wood products groups

Source: UNCTAD secretariat (based on Joint Forest Sector Questionnaire nomenclature, 2001).

Sawnwood is defined as wood that has been produced from roundwood either by sawing lengthways or by a profile-chipping process and that exceeds 6 mm in thickness. It includes planks, beams, joists, boards, rafters, scantlings, laths, boxboards and "lumber", among others.

Veneer (thin sheets of wood of uniform thickness, not exceeding 6 mm, peeled, sliced or sawn) comprises wood used for the manufacture of laminated construction material, furniture, veneer containers, etc.

Plywood consists of an assembly of veneer sheets bonded together with the direction of the grain in alternate plies generally at right angles. It includes veneer plywood (plywood manufactured by bonding together more than two veneer sheets, where the grain of alternate veneer sheets is crossed, generally at right angles); core plywood or blockboard (plywood with a solid core (i.e. the central layer, generally thicker than the other plies) that consists of narrow boards, blocks or strips of wood placed side by side, which may or may not be glued together); cellular board (plywood with a core of cellular construction); and composite plywood (plywood with the core or certain layers made of material other than solid wood or veneers).

Major end uses of sawnwood, plywood and veneers

Source: Adapted from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Markets for high-value tropical hardwoods in Europe. Rome: FAO, 2001.

Definitions of individual forest products and product aggregates are provided in ECE/FAO/EUROSTAT/ITTO Joint Forest Sector Questionnaire (JFSQ). View pdf (158 KB).

The important breakdowns of the major groups of primary wood products are diagrammed in: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Forest Products Annual Market Review, 2005-2006. Geneva: United Nations, 2006. View pdf (3.5 MB).

A graphic overview of wood product flows is given in Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Trends in Wood Products 1961-2003. Rome: FAO, 2005. View pdf (3.8 MB).

End uses of selected tropical timber species

Source: Excerpted from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Forestry Department. Promotion of Valuable Hardwood Plantations in the Tropics. A Global Overview. Forest Plantations Thematic Papers. Rome: FAO, 2001. View pdf (133 KB).