Timber: Extraction
Boreal softwoods versus tropical hardwoods
What this tab covers How it is mined, drilled or grown, and processed into a tradeable form: the main methods compared, their unit economics, by-products, and the companies that do this work globally and in India.Timber comes from natural forests and, increasingly, plantations. Softwoods such as spruce, pine and fir dominate construction lumber and grow in the boreal and temperate forests of Canada, Scandinavia, Russia and the United States. Tropical hardwoods such as meranti come from Southeast Asia, Africa and Amazonia. Trees are felled and cut into logs, then sawn, kiln-dried and graded. Sawmill chips and small logs go to pulp mills, where the kraft process dissolves lignin to free the fibre. Fast-growing eucalyptus plantations in Brazil and Indonesia now supply much hardwood pulp.
Timber comes from three kinds of forest and one fast-growing Indian alternative. Boreal and temperate natural forests in Canada, the US, Russia and the Nordics are harvested by clear-felling or thinning with heavy machines and then replanted or regenerated. Plantations of eucalyptus and pine in Brazil, Chile, New Zealand and Uruguay grow trees in short rotations and supply pulp and sawlogs at low cost. Tropical natural forests in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America are logged selectively for high-value hardwoods. In India, most industrial wood now comes from trees grown on farms and outside forests. The EU CRM study ranks the US (18%), China (16%), Russia (9%), Brazil (7%) and Canada (7%) as the largest roundwood suppliers.
Methods compared
| Method | Share of supply | Typical scale | Recovery / efficiency | By-products | Unit cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boreal and temperate natural forest harvest (Canada, US, Russia, Nordics) | US 18%, Russia 9%, Canada 7%, Sweden 3% and Finland 3% of world roundwood (EU CRM 2023) | Interfor has about 4.7 billion board feet a year of capacity and produced 1,836 million board feet in H1 2025 (Interfor Q2 2025 results) | n/a | chips for pulp, sawdust and shavings for pellets and panels, bark for fuel | Southern yellow pine composite averaged $420 and Western SPF $441 per thousand board feet in Q2 2025 (Interfor); Canadian exporters paid combined US duties of 14.40%, rising after a final 20.56% anti-dumping rate in Jul 2025 |
| Fast-growing plantations (Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, New Zealand) | Brazil 7% and Chile 2% of world roundwood (EU CRM 2023); Brazil 28.2% and Chile 9.0% of world pulp export value in 2024 (UN Comtrade) | Brazil had nearly 5 Mha of eucalyptus plantations in 2011 (Smil 2016) | n/a | bark and residues for energy | n/a |
| Selective logging of tropical natural forest (Malaysia, Indonesia, Central and West Africa, Latin America) | Indonesia 4% and Malaysia 1% of world roundwood (EU CRM 2023) | teak logs sold at $360-690 per Hoppus m3 C&F Indian ports in Feb 2026, depending on origin (ITTO TTM Report) | n/a | offcuts for local fuel | World Bank Malaysian sawnwood $731/m3 and Malaysian logs $190/m3 in Sep 2026 |
| Trees outside forests and agroforestry (India) | India 2% of world roundwood (EU CRM 2023) | trees outside forests cover 30.7 Mha, with potential industrial wood of 91.5 million m3 a year (ISFR-2023, reported by ITTO, Mar 2025) | n/a | fuelwood, fodder | imported radiata pine sawnwood Rs 1,000-1,200 per cu ft ex-mill in India (ITTO, Mar 2025) |
How each method works
Boreal and temperate natural forest harvest (Canada, US, Russia, Nordics)Harvesters fell and delimb trees, forwarders carry logs to roads, and sawmills cut them into dimension lumber. Large integrated companies run chains of sawmills and send residues to pulp and pellet plants. Canadian supply has been cut by beetle-killed timber and wildfires.
Large, efficient supply close to US and European markets, but exposed to housing cycles, wildfires and trade duties.
EU CRM 2023; Interfor Q2 2025 results, 7 Aug 2025 Fast-growing plantations (Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, New Zealand)Clonal eucalyptus and radiata pine are planted in short rotations, fertilised and harvested mechanically. Brazil and Chile focus on pulp, New Zealand on log exports to China and India.
Lowest-cost wood fibre, but monoculture raises water and biodiversity concerns.
EU CRM 2023; UN Comtrade 2024; Smil (2016) Selective logging of tropical natural forest (Malaysia, Indonesia, Central and West Africa, Latin America)Loggers take a few high-value trees per hectare, such as meranti, sapele and teak, under concession rules. Producer countries increasingly ban raw log exports to force local sawmilling. Illegal logging remains a problem and buyers in the EU and US must prove legal origin.
Supplies durable hardwoods, but drives forest degradation and faces tighter legality rules.
EU CRM 2023; ITTO TTM Report Vol 30 No 4, Feb 2026; World Bank Pink Sheet Trees outside forests and agroforestry (India)Farmers in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana grow poplar and eucalyptus on field boundaries and woodlots in short rotations and sell logs to plywood and pulp mills. This has become India's main source of industrial wood.
Adds farm income and eases pressure on natural forests, but logs are small and mostly suit panels.
ITTO TTM Report Vol 29 No 6, Mar 2025; EU CRM 2023 Unit economics are indicative ranges from the sources named; costs vary widely by deposit, region and year.Who does it: global
| Company | Country | Activity | Volume | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interfor | Canada | sawmilling in the US South, US Northwest, Eastern Canada and British Columbia | 1,836 million board feet of lumber produced (H1 2025); capacity about 4.7 billion board feet a year | H1 2025 | Interfor Q2 2025 results |
| West Fraser Timber volume not available | Canada | largest North American lumber producer; OSB and pulp | not published | n/a | |
| Canfor volume not available | Canada | lumber, pulp and paper | not published | n/a | |
| Weyerhaeuser volume not available | US | timberland owner and wood products maker | not published | n/a | |
| Stora Enso volume not available | Finland/Sweden | forest owner, sawmills, pulp and packaging board | not published | n/a | |
| Suzano volume not available | Brazil | largest eucalyptus pulp producer | not published | n/a |
Who does it: India
| Company | Country | Activity | Volume | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Century Plyboards volume not available | India | plywood, laminates and MDF | not published | n/a | |
| Greenply Industries volume not available | India | plywood | not published | n/a | |
| Greenpanel Industries volume not available | India | MDF and plywood | not published | n/a | |
| State Forest Development Corporations no consolidated volume published | India | state agencies that manage plantations and auction teak and other timber | not published | n/a |
India's natural forests are largely closed to commercial felling, so industrial wood comes from farm trees and imports. India imported $501 million of sawnwood (1.5% of world value) and $732 million of pulp (967 kt) in 2024 (UN Comtrade), plus teak logs from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Tanzania, South Sudan and Guatemala (ITTO, Feb 2026). Forest cover is 52 Mha and trees outside forests 30.7 Mha (ISFR-2023).