Background Notes

Introduction

The 2020 Wood Input Purchases by Industry release is based on data collected from the 2020 Wood Inputs Survey conducted by the CSO. The survey was designed to capture information on purchases of roundwood and non-roundwood forest products from forests in Ireland. 

Legal basis

The Wood Inputs Survey is a statutory survey conducted under the Statistics (Wood Inputs Survey) Order 2020 (S.I. No. 650 of 2020) made under the Statistics Act, 1993.

Coverage

The survey was designed to collect data on purchases of roundwood and non-roundwood forest products used in the manufacturing process and for energy from publicly-owned and privately-owned forests in Ireland. The CSO Business Register was used to select the sample. Information from the Forest Service and from industry experts was used to ensure that all relevant enterprises were selected.

Data sources

The survey does not make use of any administrative data.

Questionnaire

The questionnaire is available at: Wood Inputs Survey

Definitions

Quantity: The survey requested quantity of roundwood in tonnes overbark. It includes all purchases during the calendar year. All weights were reported at actual moisture content at the time of sale. Respondents were asked to provide both tonnes and cubic metres if both were available.

Large sawlog: Roundwood with a top diameter of 20 cm or more and a typical length of between 3.7 and 7.3 metres. They are used for the manufacture of sawn timber largely for use by the construction industry.

Small sawlog (palletwood): Roundwood with a top diameter of 14-19 cm and a typical length of between 2.0 and 3.6 metres are classified as small sawlog (palletwood). It is suitable for use as packaging and for making garden furniture.

Stakewood: Roundwood with a top diameter of 7-13 cm and a typical length of between 1.5 and 1.9 metres are classified as stakewood if it is used for stakes and fencing.

Pulpwood: Roundwood with a top diameter of 7-13 cm and a length of around 3 metres. Pulpwood is used to produce pulp, door panels, particle board, oriented strand board (OSB), medium-density fibreboard (MDF), and other fibreboard.

Roundwood purchased for use as biomass: Roundwood purchased to be used for energy purposes are included here. Bark, woodchip, and sawdust that were purchased as separate products are not included here but included in the non-roundwood product categories.

Brash and tree stumps: Brash (lop and top) and tree stumps.

Woodchip: Woodchip removed from the log prior to sale. Woodchip purchased as a separate product and used in the production of energy are included in this category.

Sawdust: This category covers sawdust purchased as an input into the manufacturing process and for energy purposes.

Short rotation coppice: SRC is wood grown for energy purposes e.g. willow.

Post-consumer recovered wood: PCRW includes all kinds of wood material which is made available for reuse or recycling. It may be recovered from packaging materials, demolition projects, building sites, etc. It may be used for material purposes or for energy production.

Imputation

The survey statutory instrument obliged enterprises in the sample to provide a return in respect of 2020. The CSO asked enterprises that submitted 2019 and 2020 data to provide us with 2015 to 2018 figures on a voluntary basis. The CSO used the 2019 and 2020 returns to estimate 2015 to 2018 for enterprises that did not provide those years on a voluntary basis.

Enterprises were asked to provide figures in tonnes and cubic metres. Most enterprises provided tonnes and the larger enterprises provided cubic metres. The CSO estimated any missing data using completed data. The CSO allowed a range from 1.03 to 1.24 cubic metres per tonne. Returns below or above these ratios were corrected to the lower or upper limit.

In terms of roundwood cubic metres volume, the CSO estimated: 30% in 2015 and 2016; 17% in 2017; 15% in 2018; and less than one percent in 2019 and in 2020.

Weighting

The returns were not weighted. The CSO made estimates for active enterprises that did not submit a return.

Revisions

All data are subject to revision. The revisions will mainly arise from replacing CSO estimates with actual data or from enterprises that are not included in these results subsequently providing figures. For 2015-2019, revisions were made to the data as a result of replacing previous CSO estimates with actual data provided by enterprises and to take account of late returns.

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