germany

83% of damaged wood, but total logging slightly down

Article by Gerd Ebner (adapted for holzkurier.com; translated by Eva Guzely) | 30.04.2020 - 10:30

According to Destatis, 63 million m³ without bark were logged in Germany last year. This is slightly less than in 2018 (64.3 million m³). The percentage of damaged wood, however, saw a marked increase.

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With spruce in particular, harvesting again saw a marked increase of 10% to 43.2 million m³. Compared to 2018, the volume grew by 4 million m³. The development is even more remarkable in comparison with the ten-year average (2009 to 2018) when logging was at 28.7 million m³. This means that spruce harvest was 51% higher in 2019.

The volume of damaged wood of all types of wood rose from 31.9 million m³ in 2018 to 42.6 million m³ in 2019, i.e. by 33% year on year. Spruce harvest in particular was driven by damaged wood. In this group of tree species (spruce/fir/Douglas fir), 83% of the overall harvest volume was damaged wood. In total, 36 million m³ were harvested.

Destatis’s figures on damaged wood are considerably lower than those projected by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture in November 2019. The Ministry predicted a total of 70 million m³ of damaged wood in 2019.

With all other groups of tree species, i.e. oak (1.5 million m³; -24%), beech (9.2 million m³; -16%) and pine/larch (9.1 million m³; -25%), harvest decreased in 2019. The percentage of damaged wood of all types of wood was 67% (42.5 million m³) last year.

Logging in Germany 1999 to 2019
Year	Oak	Beech	Pine/Larch	Spruce/Fir	Total
2019	1,523	9,202	9,109	43,226	63,059
2018	2,004	10,909	12,086	39,363	64,362
2017	1,948	10,649	12,017	28,878	53,491
2016	2,135	11,007	12,574	26,478	52,194
2015	2,079	11,484	12,564	29,486	55,613
2014	2,211	12,017	13,293	26,834	54,356
2013	2,245	12,071	13,533	25,359	53,207
2012	2,050	11,824	13,254	25,210	52,338
2011	2,188	12,244	13,611	28,099	56,142
2010	1,802	10,176	11,995	30,445	54,418
2009	1,688	9,336	10,110	26,940	48,073
2008	2,089	10,525	11,177	31,576	55,367
2007	2,135	10,981	13,235	50,377	76,728
2006	2,484	10,320	12,279	37,207	62,290
2005	2,202	8,802	11,352	34,590	56,946
2004	2,017	8,668	10,345	33,475	54,505
2003	2,068	8,786	9,771	30,557	51,182
2002	1,562	7,640	9,200	23,977	42,380
2001	1,819	8,957	8,896	19,810	39,482
2000	1,677	8,747	9,021	34,265	53,710
1999	1,456	8,269	9,246	18,665	37,636