Timber Operations Industry Profile

Companies in this industry own timberlands and grow and harvest timber on production cycles of 10 years or more, primarily for use as lumber. Major companies include US-based PotlatchDeltic, Rayonier, and Weyerhaeuser; as well as Canfor, Resolute Forest Products, and West Fraser (all based in Canada); Stora Enso (Finland), and Svenska Cellulosa (Sweden).

Major producers of forest products include India, the US, Brazil, and China. Among these products include wood fuel, industrial roundwood, wood charcoal, wood pellets and other agglomerates, and sawnwoods. The global timber plants market was valued at about $4 billion in 2020, and will reach about $5 billion by 2027, according to WRDE.

Some large companies have vertically integrated operations that may combine land ownership, land management, logging, sawmills, and manufacturing of wood or paper products. Companies that grow Christmas trees and other trees (woody crops) on production cycles of less than 10 years, primarily for use by the paper and pulp industries or as raw materials for engineered wood products, are not included in the industry.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand for timber used to make lumber is driven primarily by residential construction activity. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations. Large logging companies can have a cost advantage over smaller ones through the use of more efficient (and more expensive) machinery, but logging is a very local activity, often without significant economies of scale.