Global Timber Consumption Per Year

Global timber consumption is one of those giant numbers that quietly shape the modern economy: how fast we can build cities, how we package goods, how we heat homes, and how we decarbonize construction. Yet most people have no idea how much wood the world actually uses every year, or which sectors are really driving demand.

This article takes a data-driven look at that question, using the best available statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Bank, OECD, and industry research.

1. How Much Timber the World Consumes Each Year

1.1 Defining “Timber” in the Global Statistics

Different datasets use slightly different terminology:

• Roundwood: logs and other wood in its raw state, measured in cubic meters.

• Industrial roundwood: roundwood used for materials

  • sawnwood and lumber

  • wood-based panels (plywood, OSB, MDF, particleboard)

  • pulp and paper

  • engineered wood products

• Fuelwood and wood for charcoal: roundwood used directly for energy.

In this article, “global timber consumption” means the total annual harvest of roundwood from forests, then we look at how that material is processed and distributed across construction, furniture, paper and packaging, and energy.

1.2 The Global Timber Harvest: Around 4 Billion Cubic Meters

Recent FAO assessments show that global wood production reached roughly 4 billion tonnes in 2022, which corresponds to a similar order of magnitude in cubic meters of roundwood, given typical wood densities.

A more precise breakdown comes from FAO’s latest forest products statistics:

• Total roundwood removals (all uses) in 2022 were estimated at about 3.9–4.0 billion m³ per year, continuing the plateau that has existed since the early 1990s.

• Industrial roundwood (used for materials) reached about 2.0 billion m³ in 2022, a record level after a steady rise from around 1.92 billion m³ in 2020.

• Fuelwood and charcoal accounted for approximately 1.9 billion m³ in 2020, with FAO projecting this to rise to between 2.1 and 2.7 billion m³ by 2050.

Putting that together, the global timber balance looks like this:

• Roughly half of the global harvest is still used as energy wood (fuelwood and charcoal), mainly in developing economies.

• The other half is industrial wood, which eventually becomes beams, panels, furniture, packaging, paper, and biomass energy in industrial power plants.

1.3 Long-Run Growth: Slow but Persistent

The long-term trend is upward, even if the yearly numbers look flat:

• One in-depth timber outlook using FAO forest products statistics found that global industrial roundwood consumption reached 2.2 billion m³ in 2018, up 25 percent over twenty years, implying a compound annual growth rate of about 1.1 percent.

• FAO time series show roundwood removals rising from 1961 to 1990, then stabilizing around 3.5–4.0 billion m³ per year in the decades since, even as global GDP and population have continued to grow.

• Projections by international forest sector studies indicate that global industrial roundwood production could grow by about 45 percent by 2050, to around 2.8 billion m³, driven largely by demand for construction materials and packaging.

The key story: timber demand keeps growing, but efficiency gains, recycling of paper and packaging, and increased use of engineered wood have kept growth moderate compared with other bulk materials such as steel and concrete.

2. Following the Timber Flow: From Forest to End Use

Once harvested, roundwood splits into several major processing streams:

1. Sawnwood and lumber

2. Wood-based panels (plywood, OSB, MDF, particleboard, LVL)

3. Pulp, paper, and paperboard

4. Wood fuel (logs, branches, and increasingly pellets)

From these streams, most timber ultimately lands in four broad end-use sectors:

• Construction (structural framing, flooring, roof systems, formwork, interior fit-out)

• Furniture and interiors

• Paper and packaging

• Energy production (biomass and pellets)

There is no single global statistic that perfectly allocates every cubic meter by final use, but industry analyses and regional studies give a clear directional picture.

One major forestry and logging market study estimates that:

• Construction uses about 40 percent of global timber,

• Industrial applications (which include packaging, paper, panels for manufacturing, and other uses) consume around 35 percent,

• The remaining 25 percent goes to other sectors including energy, rural use, and miscellaneous products.

Older FAO analysis reinforces this pattern, noting that construction accounts for roughly one half to three fifths of total sawnwood use, with furniture and packaging being the other major destinations.

With that in mind, we can look at each of the four headline sectors in more detail.

3. Construction: The Structural Backbone of Timber Demand

3.1 How Much Timber Flows into Buildings

Construction is the largest single use of industrial timber.

Evidence comes from several angles:

• FAO’s long-standing observation that 50–60 percent of sawnwood goes into construction.

• The global forestry and logging segmentation that attributes 40 percent of all timber usage to construction, ahead of other industrial applications.

• Engineered wood statistics showing that building and construction absorbs more than 80 percent of engineered wood volumes, including glulam beams, cross-laminated timber (CLT), and structural panels.

Engineered wood is a particularly good proxy for where modern timber demand is headed. One recent market study estimates that building and construction accounted for 81.08 percent of engineered wood consumption in 2025, with residential construction alone making up roughly two thirds of that total.

3.2 Why Builders Are Leaning Into Wood

Several structural forces are pushing construction toward more timber:

• Urbanization and housing demand
  A major wood and timber products market analysis estimates the sector at USD 992.43 billion in 2024, expected to reach USD 1,251.26 billion by 2030, driven largely by rapid urbanization and housing demand in Asia-Pacific and other growth regions.

• Climate and embodied carbon policies
  Research on tall wood buildings highlights that engineered timber can compete with steel and concrete in multistory and even high-rise structures, with significantly lower embodied carbon when sourced from well-managed forests.
  That is why cities and countries from Canada to the Nordics have updated building codes to allow mass timber and to favor low-carbon materials in public projects.

• Innovation in engineered products
  CLT, LVL, and hybrid timber systems allow long spans, fast on-site assembly, and prefabrication. This makes timber not only a “green” alternative, but a productivity tool that appeals to developers and contractors trying to reduce build times.

3.3 Regional Construction Demand Patterns

• North America
  A leading industrial roundwood market report notes that North America holds roughly 45 percent of the global industrial roundwood market, thanks to its large forest resource base and heavy timber use in residential construction.
  Detached houses, low-rise apartments, and a strong repair and remodeling sector keep lumber mills and panel producers busy.

• Europe
  Europe has become a hub for advanced timber construction, especially in Scandinavia, Austria, and Germany. The EU statistics show about 76 percent of roundwood used in the EU is industrial roundwood (for sawnwood and pulp) and 24 percent is fuelwood, reflecting a mix of building and bioenergy priorities.

• Asia-Pacific
  Rapidly growing urban centers from China to Southeast Asia are major sources of timber demand for construction and interiors. FAO-linked data indicates that the Asia-Pacific region produced 1,131.6 million m³ of roundwood in 2023, roughly 24.7 percent of global production, with 441.3 million m³ of that as industrial roundwood (about 16 percent of the world total). Much of that industrial roundwood ultimately ends up in construction and furniture manufacturing.

4. Furniture and Interior Manufacturing: Timber in Everyday Life

4.1 A Quiet but Significant Timber Consumer

Furniture and interior uses rarely show up in headlines, but they absorb a substantial share of global timber:

• FAO’s wood demand analysis highlights furniture and packaging as the other major uses of sawnwood after construction.

• Market studies on the wood-based products sector note that solid wood products and veneers for furniture and flooring represent around a third of revenue in some wood-based product portfolios, underpinned by premium furniture and flooring demand.

Engineered wood markets add another piece of evidence. While construction dominates, furniture and interior fit-out has been growing at an estimated annual rate close to 9 percent in parts of the engineered wood segment, as cabinet makers substitute particleboard and MDF for solid wood to hit cost and sustainability targets.

In practice, furniture and interior applications include:

• Household and office furniture

• Kitchen cabinets and wardrobes

• Interior doors and trim

• Flooring, wall paneling, and decorative elements

• Hospitality and retail fit-outs

4.2 Global Furniture Hubs and Timber Flows

• China and wider Asia
  Asia-Pacific is not only the largest producer of roundwood; it is also the leading exporter of finished wood furniture. China, Vietnam, and other Asian manufacturing hubs import large volumes of logs, sawnwood, and panels from Russia, Europe, North America, and tropical regions, then re-export finished furniture and flooring.

• Europe
  Northern and Central Europe host major furniture brands and manufacturers that increasingly rely on engineered wood, panel products, and certified timber. Sustainable sourcing, circular design, and recycling of wood-based panels are growing themes.

• North America
  In the United States and Canada, furniture demand is closely tied to housing cycles and consumer spending. North American producers compete with imported ready-to-assemble furniture, but they remain important users of domestic hardwoods and softwoods.

5. Paper and Packaging: The Invisible Giant of Timber Use

5.1 From Trees to Cardboard and Paperboard

Timber is not just planks and beams. It is also pulp, paper, and packaging that flow through every supply chain.

Recent market estimates show that:

• The global paper and forest products market was valued at USD 334.7 billion in 2023, and is projected to grow to USD 429.2 billion by 2032.

• A recent analysis of paper and cardboard use notes that around 500 million tonnes of paper and cardboard are produced annually worldwide, with more than half of that tonnage going into containerboard and other packaging grades.

In other words, packaging has become the dominant use of pulp-based materials, ahead of printing and writing paper, which has stagnated or declined in many mature markets.

5.2 E-Commerce and the Cardboard Wave

The surge in e-commerce has added a new structural driver:

• Financial press coverage estimates that more than half of global paper and cardboard tonnage is now used for packaging, much of it in corrugated boxes that move parcels for online retail.

• Companies such as Amazon have been shipping tens of millions of parcels per day during peak seasons, driving strong containerboard demand even when traditional retail is slow.

At the same time, the packaging sector is cyclical. Recent reports from companies like International Paper show that soft demand and higher costs have forced temporary plant closures and consolidation in parts of the United States and Europe.

What matters for timber consumption is that even when packaging demand dips for a year or two, structural forces still point upward:

• continued global trade

• rising middle-class consumption in emerging markets

• substitution of plastic packaging with paper-based options for sustainability reasons

All of these keep pulp and packaging as one of the largest and most stable destinations for industrial roundwood, even if the exact share fluctuates with economic cycles.

6. Energy and Biomass: Timber as Fuel

6.1 Traditional Fuelwood

Despite the focus on “wood products”, nearly half of the world’s harvested wood is still burned for energy:

• FAO estimates global fuelwood consumption at about 1.9 billion m³ in 2020, with projections of 2.1–2.7 billion m³ by 2050 depending on policy and technology scenarios.

This fuelwood is often:

• gathered locally for cooking and heating in rural households

• used in small industries such as brick making and small-scale food processing

• converted into charcoal for urban markets in parts of Africa, Latin America, and Asia

From a timber-balance perspective, fuelwood is especially important in regions where industrial wood use is still modest but population growth is rapid.

6.2 Modern Bioenergy and Wood Pellets

In higher income regions, wood energy is shifting toward more industrial and utility-scale bioenergy:

• In the EU, statistics show approximately 24 percent of roundwood production used as fuelwood, with the remainder going into industrial roundwood for sawnwood and pulp.

• Wood pellets made from sawmill residues and low-grade wood are increasingly used in district heating plants and power stations, especially in Europe and East Asia.

Although these modern biomass uses represent a smaller share of global timber than construction or packaging, they are strategically important. They sit at the intersection of:

• renewable energy policy

• forest management

• debates over carbon accounting and land use

As governments push toward net-zero targets, the role of wood in the energy mix remains politically and scientifically contested.

7. Regional Demand Patterns: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Emerging Markets

7.1 North America: Construction-Heavy Timber Demand

North America combines large forest resources with a timber-intensive building culture:

• One industrial roundwood study estimates that North America accounts for about 45 percent of the global industrial roundwood market, supported by strong construction activity and sustainable forestry regulations in the United States and Canada.

• The region is also home to some of the largest lumber, panel, and pulp producers, feeding domestic housing markets and exporting to Asia and Europe.

Timber is used extensively for:

• single-family homes and low-rise apartment framing

• roof trusses, floor joists, and sheathing

• remodeling and renovation

• packaging and pallets for manufacturing and distribution

North America is also at the forefront of mass timber adoption, with numerous mid-rise and some high-rise CLT buildings completed or underway.

7.2 Europe: High Value-Added Wood and Bioenergy

Europe is a major player in timber both as a producer and a technology leader:

• EU statistics show that around three quarters of roundwood in the EU is used as industrial wood, while about one quarter is used directly as fuelwood.

• Forestry policies and climate strategies in the region emphasize sustainable harvesting, biodiversity protection, and the role of forests in carbon sequestration.

Timber in Europe is heavily oriented toward:

• advanced engineered wood products for construction

• high-quality furniture and interiors

• pulp and paper production, with strong recycling systems

• bioenergy, particularly in Scandinavia and Central Europe

Circularity concepts, such as recovering wood from demolition waste and designing buildings for disassembly, are gaining traction as part of broader circular economy policies.

7.3 Asia-Pacific: The Growth Engine

Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing center of timber demand:

• FAO-linked statistics indicate that the region produced 1,131.6 million m³ of roundwood in 2023, nearly a quarter of the global total, with 441.3 million m³ of that as industrial roundwood.

• Market research highlights that Asia-Pacific accounts for roughly 34 percent of the global wood and timber products market by value, driven by rapid urbanization, infrastructure investment, and export-oriented manufacturing.

Within the region:

• China is a major consumer of lumber, panels, and pulp for construction, furniture, and packaging. It imports large amounts of logs and sawnwood while also expanding plantations and domestic processing capacity.

• Japan has long used timber in housing and is promoting engineered wood for earthquake-resilient, low-carbon construction.

• Southeast Asia produces and exports both logs and finished wood products, including tropical hardwood furniture and plywood.

Asia-Pacific exemplifies the tension between rising material demand and concerns over deforestation, especially in tropical regions.

7.4 Emerging Markets in Africa and Latin America

Africa and Latin America are less dominant in industrial statistics but crucial for the global forest balance:

• Projections for tropical regions suggest that tropical industrial roundwood production could increase by about 24 percent by 2050, to roughly 533 million m³, with plantations providing an increasing share and natural forests supplying a smaller proportion than today.

• Many African and Latin American countries still rely heavily on fuelwood and charcoal for household energy, so their share of the global energy wood market is high even where industrial wood use is modest.

At the same time, plantation forestry in Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, South Africa, and other countries is expanding production of pulp, sawnwood, and panels for export markets.

8. Urbanization, Housing, and the Changing Face of Timber Demand

8.1 Cities as Timber Sinks

Urbanization is the single biggest structural driver of timber demand:

• The global wood and timber products market, worth almost USD 1 trillion in 2024, is forecast to grow steadily as cities expand and demand for housing, commercial buildings, and infrastructure accelerates.

• In fast-growing regions, wood products are used in both modern construction and informal housing, as well as in scaffolding, formwork, and temporary structures on construction sites.

As cities densify, there is a notable shift from low-rise sprawl to mid-rise and high-rise buildings. This has created space for mass timber systems that can take on jobs previously reserved for steel and concrete, especially in:

• mid-rise residential and mixed-use buildings

• schools, offices, and civic buildings

• industrial and logistics facilities using long-span timber roofs

8.2 Housing Cycles and Timber Volatility

Timber demand is also tied closely to housing cycles:

• In North America and parts of Europe, wood product markets respond sharply to changes in mortgage rates, housing starts, and renovation spending.

• When construction slows, mills cut output, and inventories build, which can temporarily reduce industrial roundwood consumption even if long-term demand remains strong.

This cyclicality blends with structural growth. Over the next decades, most analysts expect slow, steady growth in industrial timber demand, punctuated by cyclical ups and downs tied to housing and macroeconomic conditions.

9. E-Commerce Packaging and the Sustainability Push

9.1 Cardboard as a Growth Engine for Timber

Packaging has become the quiet growth engine for wood-based materials:

• Global production of paper and cardboard is estimated at about 500 million tonnes per year, with more than half used for containerboard and packaging.

• Each parcel shipped in a corrugated box reflects upstream demand for pulp, which in turn originates from industrial roundwood, sawmill residues, or recovered paper.

Even in regions where print media has declined, e-commerce and retail logistics have more than compensated, keeping pulp and paper mills busy.

9.2 Sustainability, Recycling, and Material Substitution

Packaging is also at the center of sustainability debates:

• High recycling rates in Europe, where cardboard recycling rates exceed 70 percent in many countries, help reduce pressure on virgin wood.

• Brand owners and regulators are trying to reduce plastic packaging, which often means shifting toward paper-based solutions, but there are trade-offs in weight, transport emissions, and material efficiency.

For timber markets, this means:

• More stable demand for pulpwood and wood chips, supporting industrial roundwood consumption even when construction slows.

• Growing attention to certified fibrous raw material, chain-of-custody tracking, and life-cycle assessments for packaging formats.

10. Sustainability, Certification, and Future Supply

10.1 Where the World’s Industrial Roundwood Comes From

Recent FAO analysis of forest resources shows that:

• Naturally regenerated temperate and boreal forests provided about 44 percent of global industrial roundwood in 2020.

• Planted forests supplied a growing share, especially in the Southern Hemisphere and parts of Asia, where fast-growing species such as eucalyptus and pine dominate the pulp and panel sectors.

This shift toward plantations is expected to continue. Outlook scenarios suggest:

• Global industrial roundwood production could rise to about 2.8 billion m³ by 2050, up around 45 percent from recent levels.

• Tropical industrial roundwood will increasingly come from plantations, with natural forests supplying a smaller share than today.

10.2 Certification and Responsible Sourcing

As timber demand grows, certification schemes such as FSC and PEFC, though not quantified in the sources above, play a crucial role in:

• reducing illegal logging

• protecting high conservation value forests

• ensuring that increased harvests are matched by regeneration

Buyers of construction wood, furniture, and packaging increasingly specify certified or controlled wood, which reshapes trade flows and may favor suppliers with strong governance and sustainable practices.

11. Risks, Substitution, and Circularity

11.1 Substitution Between Wood and Other Materials

Timber competes and interacts with other materials:

• In construction, wood competes with steel, concrete, and masonry; policies that price carbon or reward low-carbon materials tend to shift demand toward engineered wood.

• In packaging, paper and cardboard compete with plastics, metals, and glass; regulation of single-use plastics and extended producer responsibility schemes often favor fiber-based solutions.

Models of forest sector dynamics suggest that substitution between materials can significantly alter regional timber demand and competitiveness, especially when bioenergy and recycled materials enter the mix.

11.2 Circular Wood Flows

Circularity concepts in wood construction point to large untapped opportunities:

• UNECE and related research highlight the potential to recover and reuse timber from existing buildings at the end of their life, or to design new buildings for easier disassembly and material reuse.

• In pulp and paper, high recovery rates for waste paper already make recycling a central part of the fibre balance, but quality losses and contamination still require substantial input of virgin wood.

Circularity does not eliminate the need for fresh timber, but it can slow the growth of virgin demand and improve the climate performance of wood-based value chains.

12. So, What Really Drives Global Timber Consumption?

Putting all the pieces together, we can summarize the global picture like this:

• The world harvests around 4 billion cubic meters of wood each year, split roughly half and half between industrial roundwood and fuelwood.

• Construction is the largest single industrial user of timber, accounting for about 40 percent of total timber usage and more than half of all sawnwood and engineered wood products.

• Furniture and interiors are major consumers of solid wood and panels, particularly in Asia-Pacific and Europe, and are growing steadily on the back of urban middle-class demand.

• Paper and packaging absorb vast amounts of pulpwood and recovered fibre, with around 500 million tonnes of paper and cardboard produced annually and more than half used for packaging.

• Energy production still accounts for a very large share of timber in the form of traditional fuelwood and modern bioenergy, particularly in developing economies and in parts of Europe.

• Regionally, North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific dominate industrial timber consumption, while Africa and parts of Latin America are more heavily represented in fuelwood and tropical timber flows.

Looking ahead, three forces will shape how much timber the world uses and where it goes:

1. Urbanization and housing will keep construction demand strong, particularly in Asia and Africa.

2. E-commerce and packaging shifts will continue to support pulp and paper demand, even as some traditional paper grades shrink.

3. Sustainability and climate policy will determine whether timber is seen primarily as a climate solution, a deforestation risk, or both, influencing harvest levels, certification, and substitution patterns.

For investors, policymakers, and businesses, the message is clear: timber is not a niche commodity. It is a core infrastructure material for the twenty-first century, shaping everything from how people live and shop to how countries meet their climate targets. Understanding where those billions of cubic meters actually go each year is the first step to making smarter decisions about forests, factories, and the future of the built environment.