Financial return from forestry |
Returns to the forest owner are made up of sales of timber (standing or felled), sales of other goods and services, increases in the value of the woodland (from annual increment or market factors), and the net income from subsidies (e.g. planting grants) less taxes. The owner's costs are made up of employment costs and other purchases.
Estimates of the overall return from commercial Sitka spruce plantations are produced annually in the Investment Property Databank (IPD) UK Forestry Index (not National Statistics), which is calculated from a sample of private sector plantations in mainland Britain.
The total return from forestry in the three year period 2003 to 2006 is estimated to have been 14.6% per annum. This continues the recovery from the negative returns of recent years. The annual return for 2006 is estimated to have been 20.6%.
Table 7.2 Returns from forestry, 1997-2006
Period ending | annual return | 3 year return (annual average) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| per cent per annum | |||||
1997 | 4.0 | 7.9 | |||
1998 | -1.4 | 4.4 | |||
1999 | -11.1 | -3.0 | |||
2000 | -2.9 | -5.2 | |||
2001 | -1.1 | -5.1 | |||
2002 | -4.7 | -2.9 | |||
2003 | 1.3 | -1.5 | |||
2004 | 9.2 | 1.8 | |||
2005 | 14.4 | 8.2 | |||
2006 | 20.6 | 14.6 | |||
Not National Statistics
Source: IPD UK Forestry Index 2007