Britain uses a large amount of timber, paper, boards and other wood products each year, equivalent to about 50 million cubic metres. Around 85% of this has to be imported at a cost of about £8 billion.
The development of the British timber industry, using wood from Britain's forests, has been a major success story. Over £1.6 billion has been invested in sawmills and paper and board mills over the last 15 years, and a further £2 billion is expected to be invested over the next fifteen years, creating many new jobs.
The volume of wood supplied from Britain's forests each year has more than doubled from 4 million cubic metres in the 1970s to nearly 9 million now. This will increase to 15 million cubic metres by 2020, offering scope for further substantial investment in the processing industry.
The Forestry Commission selected the 