Forestry and Land Scotland says that the UK as a whole – which currently imports 80% [Confor] of its annual timber requirement – is far too vulnerable to fluctuations in the global market.
But it also says that Scotland is well placed to mitigate that risk by stepping up its commercial forestry sector.
Home-grown grown timber makes up only around 33% of the UK market [British CTI] and while we are largely self-sufficient in fencing, there is significant, unmet domestic demand for more structural timber and also pallet wood.
Mick Bottomley, FLS Head of Marketing and Sales, said:
“Scottish-based timber manufacturers could potentially triple production to meet current and anticipated future demand and produce a greater share of the remaining 67% of the market which is currently imported, predominantly from Scandinavia, Latvia and Germany.
