# Timber

Wood cut from forests and plantations, sawn into building timber or pulped for paper and packaging, traded mainly by northern softwood exporters.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lumber/

Fibres & forest · No. 108

- Not on a critical list
 Fibres & forest · Foundation · Matter

In 1820, over half of Belgium's forest went into charcoal for ironmaking; forests could never fuel modern iron output.

Chart: Illustration: Timber

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Timber comes from natural forests and, increasingly, plantations. Softwoods such as spruce and pine grow in boreal forests. The world harvests about 3.5 billion cubic metres a year.

##### Three things to know

1. The world harvests about 3.5 billion cubic metres of wood a year, roughly 2.3 billion tonnes, much of it burned as fuelwood.
2. The United States (23.1%) and China (20.2%) were the main buyers of sawn wood in 2024.
3. Kiln-drying lumber to below about 19% moisture stops it warping and rotting.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Forest**Natural forest or plantation
2. 2 **Logging**Trees felled into roundwood logs
3. 3 **Sawmill**Logs cut to boards, chips, sawdust
4. 4 **Drying**Kiln dried and stress graded
5. 5 **Pulp mill**Chips cooked into kraft pulp
6. 6 **End uses**Houses, furniture, paper and packaging
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## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lumber/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lumber/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lumber/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lumber/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lumber/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lumber/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lumber/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lumber/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lumber/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lumber/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lumber/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lumber/links/index.md)