The nineteenth Timber Industry Statistics Report, commissioned by Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Directorate: Forestry Regulation and Oversight, contains information relating to the commercial timber resource and primary roundwood processors in South Africa for the period July 2018 to June 2019

The method of gathering the timber resource and roundwood processing information, which has remained unchanged, is to circulate forms to all identified plantation owners and timber processors for completion. The mailing list has been continuously updated over the past year and additional names added, when this information has become available. The questionnaire was redesigned to streamline it and try and make it more user friendly. This has contributed to the improvement and completeness of the information supplied. The result is that the number of responses on which the information in this Report is based has improved over time. This Report contains the information supplied from a total of 927 plantation returns (2017/2018: 940) and 117 roundwood timber processing returns (2017/2018: 118). The reason for the slight decrease in the number of returns received can be attributed to the fact that some of the growers have sold off some of their plantations or have restructured their plantations according to their new management structures.

Returns were received from all the major plantation owners and all the major timber processors and, because the South African timber industry is characterised by the dominance of a very few large participants, the overall results of the survey are regarded as representative of the status of the South African timber industry for the reporting period of July 2018 to June 2019.

The information in this Report is only based on actual information received and have both been compiled using the same database, with the result that comparisons with previous years are now possible. An interpretation of some of the differences noted between the two latest Reports is discussed in a specific section of this Report. The reader should review the comments in that section and adjust their interpretation of the detailed information contained elsewhere accordingly.

Click here, to download the 2018-2019 Timber Statistics produced by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE)