Poland's Wood Sector: Forests, State Forests, Sawmills and Exports

Why Poland matters to the European wood chain

Poland is a large roundwood producer, a major sawn-timber and wood-based-panel producer and one of Europe's biggest furniture manufacturers. One public body, the State Forests National Forest Holding (Państwowe Gospodarstwo Leśne Lasy Państwowe, PGL LP, "LP"), manages roughly three quarters of the forest and sells most industrial wood. That makes the sector unusually sensitive to LP decisions on harvest volume, sales rules and certification.

This article synthesises open sources: Eurostat's Joint Forest Sector Questionnaire data, Statistics Poland (GUS), LP reports and administrative orders, trade-promotion and press reports, and academic papers. Every figure carries a year, unit and source. Provisional figures are marked "(p)". Values marked "own arithmetic" were computed by the author, and statements headed "Own interpretation" are judgements, not facts. Polish statistics use different conventions (over or under bark, harvest or sales, national or international forest definition), and where sources differ the article says so instead of blending them.

Forest area, ownership and species

According to the State Forests' "Raport o stanie lasów 2024", citing GUS, Poland had 9,289 thousand hectares of forest at the end of 2024, a forest cover of 29.6 percent. On the international definition used for Forest Europe's State of Europe's Forests 2020 reporting, the same report gives 9,464 thousand hectares and 30.9 percent at 31 December 2020. The gap reflects definition and reference year, not real change. For regional context, GUS's "Leśnictwo i łowiectwo" chapter for Warmińsko-Mazurskie reports 771,194 hectares of forest and 31.9 percent cover at the end of 2024, of which 708,020 hectares were public and 63,174 private.

Pine dominates both area and volume (55.4 percent of growing stock, WISL 2020-2024). The broadleaved share of LP forest rose from 13.0 percent in 1945 to 25.0 percent in 2024, and only 16.4 percent of LP stands exceed 100 years against 5.6 percent in private forests. Own interpretation: the age profile explains persistent bottlenecks in old pine and oak sawlogs, while mid-aged pine delivers abundant medium logs and pulpwood.

The GUS regional data show how dominant LP is in the north-east: 698,429 of 704,242 hectares of State Treasury forest in Warmińsko-Mazurskie are managed by LP (2024). Private forests supplied only 50.6 of the region's 3,790.0 thousand m³ removals in 2024, about 1.3 percent (own arithmetic). This is a regional figure and should not be extrapolated nationally. Private-forest fragmentation is widely asserted, but no holding-size statistic was verified for this article.

Annual harvest: the numbers and why they differ

The most consistent open series is Eurostat FOR_REMOV. For Poland, in thousand m³:

Source: Eurostat FOR_REMOV, Poland; 2024 provisional; some 2020-2023 values flagged estimated.

Removals stayed in a band of roughly 42-46 million m³ under bark. Sawlogs and veneer logs held at 17-18.5 million m³, about 42 percent of the 2024 (p) total (own arithmetic), and coniferous wood is about 79 percent of roundwood (own arithmetic). Pulpwood fell from 20.4 million (2019) to 17.6 million (2023). Fuelwood jumped from 4.5 million (2021) to 7.0 million (2022-2023). Own interpretation: the jump coincides with the 2022 energy shock, but Eurostat does not attribute causes. Non-coniferous sawlogs and veneer logs fell from 2.75 million (2020) to 2.34 million (2024, p), about 15 percent (own arithmetic).

GUS's "Leśnictwo" yearbook (2025 edition, 2024 data) carries national removals in tables on pages 98-101, but the PDF retrievable for this article contained only the front matter, so national GUS totals are not quoted. For Warmińsko-Mazurskie GUS reports 3,790.0 thousand m³ removed in 2024, 472.7 m³ per 100 hectares, with 3,645.3 thousand m³ of "grubizna" (2,756.2 coniferous, 889.1 broadleaved).

LP sales give a third view. A July 2026 Ministry of Climate and Environment analysis (based on DGLP data, reported by Forsal.pl) says LP sold 40.6 million m³ in 2024, up 3.7 percent, and 39.1 million m³ in 2025; spruce harvest fell by more than 800 thousand m³ in 2025, which the ministry links to better forest health and fewer sanitary cuttings. An industry source reports a 2026 harvest plan of about 37.2 million m³ (derevo.ua, August 2026; no official document verified). Own interpretation: LP sales plus private and park removals are consistent in scale with Eurostat's 42.5 million m³ under bark, but exact reconciliation is not possible with the sources at hand.

Own interpretation: Eurostat removals of 47.3 million m³ over bark (2024, p) over 9.29 million ha is about 5.1 m³/ha/year (own arithmetic), well below the gross increment of 8.9-9.9 m³/ha reported for LP and private forests. The comparison mixes gross increment, over-bark removals and areas from different sources, so it is indicative only. The policy dispute is less about overall sustainability than about which stands and areas are available for harvest.

The State Forests: market organiser and price setter

LP managed 77.0 percent of forest area in 2024. KB.pl (January 2025) cites "over 7.3 million hectares", which includes land related to forest management and is not directly comparable. LP is self-financing. A summary of its 2024 report says the average timber price fell by nearly 14 percent in 2024 against 2023, with hardwood pulpwood down nearly 29 percent, and that LP paid just over PLN 388 million in forest tax and just over PLN 92 million in income tax. For 2023, Forsal reported timber revenue above PLN 12.5 billion and total revenue of about PLN 14.7 billion (a 2024 plan of PLN 11.1 billion in timber revenue, not an outturn). The ministry analysis gives an early-2026 average price of PLN 306-309 per m³, still below 2023, against cumulative inflation of 7.3 percent in 2024-2025. For orientation, LP's July 2023 average was PLN 311 per m³ and pine pulpwood S2A PLN 234, about 41 percent below autumn 2022 (Forsal, August 2023). Own interpretation: assortment mix changes mean the average is not a like-for-like price index.

How wood is sold matters more to sawmills than any market factor:

• Orders. Sales are governed by orders of the Director General (zarządzenia DGLP). Zarządzenie nr 20 of 12 February 2025 introduced the timber trade management system. Zarządzenie nr 78 of 18 September 2025 amended it: the Portal Leśno-Drzewny (PLD) is the IT tool, a new module "Sprzedaż ofertowa" supports offer-based sales that account for purchase volume in stages, and users must accept the current Regulamin before using the system. That order does not itself set tender criteria or prices.
• Channels. About 80 percent of the LP offer goes to businesses (roughly 70 percent via PLD and 30 percent via system auctions) and about 20 percent to retail buyers (KB.pl, January 2025). Firms with purchase history buy through PLD; others bid in system auctions.
• e-drewno. The online auction platform sells chips, residues and wood from sanitary or disaster-recovery cuttings (KB.pl).
• 2025 tender criteria. KB.pl reports a geographic criterion worth 10 percent of the offer score, price weight cut to 75 percent, processing volume and depth at 7.5 percent each, the energy-wood pool merged into the general pool, and orders capped at 75 percent of previous purchases. The stated aims are to support local business and limit exports outside the EU. The legal source of these criteria was not verified.
• Retail price lists. Directorates publish retail price lists by decision, for example the Olsztyn directorate's decision nr 1-2026 of 7 January 2026. There is no single national price list.

Exports of roundwood to China fell 51 percent in 2025 to about 307 thousand m³, the lowest since 2019, and non-EU exports in 2024 stood about three times below the 2020 record (ministry analysis based on customs data, Forsal, July 2026). Own interpretation: tender rules, weaker demand and lower oak availability together narrowed this outlet; the data do not isolate the rules' effect.

The sawmill industry

Open sources describe the business register better than operating mills. Dróżdż (2025), citing GUS, reports that the REGON register listed 35,098 wood-industry entities on 30 September 2024, including 8,938 producing sawn timber and 422 producing veneer sheets and wood-based panels. Joinery and carpentry for construction was the largest segment at 11,269 entities. Wood products were 0.60 percent of GDP in 2023 against a peak of 0.82 percent in 2021.

A REGON entry is a registered entity, not an active industrial sawmill, because it includes sole traders and entities with minimal activity. Own interpretation: commercially significant mills are a small fraction of 8,938, but no open source gave that number. A 2018 Global Wood Markets Info article, using 2017 data for the whole wood industry, reported over 32,000 companies, almost 93 percent with fewer than 10 employees and just over 1 percent with 50 or more: a long tail of micro firms and a few large groups.

Dróżdż finds stable sawn-timber output over 2014-2023, particle board growth to 2021 followed by decline, employment peaking in 2021 and price indices peaking in 2022. Sawmilling follows forest and road networks, and Podlasie, Warmia and Masuria and Pomerania are commonly named as concentrations, but no verifiable regional count was found. The only regional forestry data checked are for Warmińsko-Mazurskie (3,790.0 thousand m³ removed in 2024), which says nothing about mills.

On raw material, an analysis by the Polska Izba Gospodarcza Przemysłu Drzewnego reported by Timber Online (25 April 2025; the year of the underlying half-year comparison is not stated) found sawmills most affected by LP supply changes: pine sawlogs fell from 1.32 to 1.26 million m³ between half-years, oak sawlogs fell 16 percent (99,189 to 82,580 m³), and extra pine pulpwood (+73,500 m³) was no substitute. This is an industry association source.

Sawn timber and wood-based panels

Eurostat FOR_SWPAN, Poland, thousand m³:

Source: Eurostat FOR_SWPAN, Poland, thousand m³; 2024 provisional.

Sawnwood production in 2024 (p) was 3,850 thousand m³ coniferous and 345 thousand non-coniferous, against 4,549 and 490 in 2021. Production is about 17 percent below the 2021 peak and exports about 29 percent below (own arithmetic). About 21 percent of 2024 production (p) was exported (own arithmetic). Imports almost halved between 2022 and 2023, a drop large enough that a reporting change cannot be ruled out; this was not verified. Own interpretation: apparent consumption (production plus imports minus exports) was about 4.08 million m³ in 2024 (p) against about 5.34 million in 2021, which signals a sizeable demand contraction if the import series is reliable.

Panel production in 2024 (p) was about 19 percent below 2021 but about 4 percent above 2023 (own arithmetic). Exports of particle board and similar rose from 912 to 1,202 thousand m³ in 2024 (p), and OSB exports from 289 to 395 thousand m³. Value-based trade series (Comtrade or Comext, HS 4407 and chapter 94) were not retrievable in verifiable form, so no export values or destinations are quoted.

Furniture and the wider chain

Citing GUS, trade.gov.pl ("The Polish furniture industry in mid-2024") reports furniture production sold of PLN 28.4 billion in the first half of 2024, down 5 percent from PLN 29.9 billion a year earlier, while wooden kitchen furniture rose 18 percent and bedroom furniture 6 percent. It states Germany takes over 30 percent of Polish furniture and that Italy overtook Poland in second-quarter 2024 furniture exports (EUR 2.9 billion against EUR 2.8 billion); the sources for those two statements are not specified there.

An advocacy-sourced account (derevo.ua, 1 August 2026, quoting B+R Studio data via PKB24.pl) claims forest-wood sold production fell from PLN 238.5 billion (2022) to PLN 203.1 billion (2025), about 45,000 jobs were lost in three years and timber prices rose over 32 percent in 2020-2025. These claims were not checked against GUS and the article is internally inconsistent on 2025, so they show how the industry sees its position, not statistics. The physical link to sawmills is clear: furniture and panel plants buy blanks, chips and sawdust, so weak demand there lowers by-product value.

Standards and certification

For over 25 years FSC certification covered much of LP. According to FSC International (6 March 2024), about two thirds of Poland's 9.2 million hectares were certified and the withdrawal affected around 5.6 million hectares. Negotiations stalled from 30 July 2023, LP chose to discontinue certification in its regions, and by February 2024 only four of seventeen directorates (Katowice, Szczecin, Szczecinek, Zielona Góra) held FSC certificates. OKO.press (May 2023) lists expired or expiring certificates including Gdańsk (303,938 ha), Toruń (456,447 ha), Poznań (419,535 ha), Warszawa (194,960 ha), Radom (325,074 ha) and Piła (362,770 ha).

On 29 February 2024 the ministry, LP and FSC agreed a working team to restore certification, starting with Białystok. FSC expected a revised national standard around May 2024, replacing the current one after a transition no earlier than December 2025; EUWID reports a December 2025 deadline. Whether this happened, and the 2026 certified share, was not verified. PEFC certificates are also published by individual directorates and districts, but no national PEFC or current FSC area share was sourced. Own interpretation: the practical effect for exporters was scarcer FSC-certified domestic roundwood in 2023-2025; no source quantified it.

Regulation: EUDR and other pressures

The EU Deforestation Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1115) covers wood products and replaces the EU Timber Regulation. According to Arendt's LexGO summary (20 May 2026), it applies from 30 December 2026 to large and medium-sized companies and micro and small enterprises already covered by the Timber Regulation, and from 30 June 2027 to other micro and small enterprises. After a simplification review, on 4 May 2026 the Commission published updated guidance and FAQs, a draft delegated act on product scope and an updated Information System implementing act. Downstream operators and traders may meet "collect and keep" duties with information from standard commercial documents such as invoices, but non-SMEs must register in the Information System. Fines can reach 4 percent of annual EU-wide turnover.

Own interpretation: a mill buying LP roundwood and selling within the EU mainly faces documentary and registration work, whereas importers of logs and sellers to non-EU buyers face heavier duties. Poland's EUDR risk classification was not retrieved, and this view was not tested against a Polish impact assessment.

Other pressures: industry sources link supply restrictions to moratoria, social forests, new reserves, old-growth designations and the "Green Shield East" programme (derevo.ua, in effect since January 2024), and the Chamber criticised a planned harvest moratorium (Timber Online). The primary legal documents were not consulted. LP's domestic-preference tender rules act like regulation although they are internal orders.

Wood energy

Eurostat reports fuelwood removals of 6.0 million m³ under bark in 2024 (p), about 14 percent of roundwood (own arithmetic), after about 7.0 million in 2022-2023. These are forest removals only, not industrial residues, imported pellets or unrecorded household wood.

A 2022 report by the NGO Stowarzyszenie Pracownia na rzecz Wszystkich Istot ("Lasy do spalenia. Prawdziwa cena bioenergii"), presented at a PAP debate on 29 March 2022, claims wood biomass for energy rose by 9.5 million m³ (69 percent) between EU accession and 2020, that households and agriculture used 47 percent and industry and power 43 percent, and that Belarus supplied about 70 percent of biomass imports before an embargo. This is an advocacy source with a critical stance, and the figures were not cross-checked against GUS. Own interpretation: energy wood both competes for small roundwood and buys chips, sawdust and bark from mills.

Challenges for the sector

1. Log supply. Pine and oak sawlog availability (Chamber analysis) and LP sales falling from 40.6 to 39.1 million m³ (2024-2025) are supported; sawlog detail is industry-sourced.
2. Price volatility. LP prices fell about 14 percent in 2024 after the 2022-2023 peak, while an industry source claims a 32 percent rise over 2020-2025. Both can be true over different windows.
3. Tender rules. They favour domestic processors but narrow roundwood export outlets.
4. Demand. Furniture output fell in H1 2024 and Eurostat sawnwood and panel output are below 2021.
5. Certification and compliance. The FSC gap and EUDR from 30 December 2026.
6. Labour and energy costs. Often cited by industry, but no Poland-specific verifiable sawmill figures were found, so they are marked unverified.

Research and education institutions

• Instytut Badawczy Leśnictwa (IBL). Its website describes research on multifunctional forests and sustainable management, forest ecology, silviculture, forest protection, forest utilisation, hunting, forest management planning and monitoring, forest economics and policy, and occupational safety. Founding year and staff were not stated on the page consulted.
• Łukasiewicz - Poznański Instytut Technologiczny (Łukasiewicz-PIT). The FAO AGRIS record says it has operated since early 2022 after merging five institutes, is the second largest in the Łukasiewicz network and covers wood technology among other fields; it is linked to the journal "Drewno". The record does not mention the former name Instytut Technologii Drewna, so that continuity is unconfirmed here.
• SGGW. The Wydział Nauk Leśnych i Drzewnych site presents SGGW as the oldest agricultural and natural-sciences university in Poland and highlights circular-economy topics for the wood and furniture industry; departments were not listed on the page.
• Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy w Poznaniu. Its Wydział Leśny i Technologii Drewna traces to a 1919 faculty, merged forestry and wood technology on 1 September 2020, teaches forestry, furniture design and wood technology (including a dual-study variant), reports about 196 staff and 1,700 students, and says LP is the largest employer of its graduates (undated faculty profile).
• Data providers. GUS publishes "Leśnictwo"; LP's Bank Danych o Lasach hosts the "Raport o stanie lasów"; Eurostat disseminates the questionnaire data used here.

Sources used

The sources below were opened and read during the research (completed 26 October 2026). Titles are in the original language where applicable.

1. Lasy Państwowe (BDL), "Raport o stanie lasów 2024" - https://www3.bdl.lasy.gov.pl/portal/Media/Default/Publikacje/raport_o_stanie_lasow_2024.pdf
2. GUS, "Leśnictwo 2025" (front matter and table list only, hosted by BDL LP) - https://bdl.lasy.gov.pl/portal/Media/Default/Publikacje/GUS_lesnictwo_2025.pdf
3. GUS Urząd Statystyczny w Olsztynie, "Dział 13. Leśnictwo i łowiectwo" (Warmińsko-Mazurskie, 2025) - https://olsztyn.stat.gov.pl/files/gfx/olsztyn/en/defaultstronaopisowa/761/1/2/2025_dzial_13_lesnictwo_lowiectwo.pdf
4. Eurostat, FOR_REMOV, roundwood removals, Poland - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/api/dissemination/statistics/1.0/data/for_remov?format=JSON&lang=EN&geo=PL&unit=THS_M3&lastTimePeriod=6
5. Eurostat, FOR_SWPAN, sawnwood and wood-based panels, Poland - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/api/dissemination/statistics/1.0/data/for_swpan?format=JSON&lang=EN&geo=PL&unit=THS_M3&sinceTimePeriod=2021
6. Dyrektor Generalny Lasów Państwowych, "Zarządzenie nr 78 z 18 września 2025 r." - https://drewno.lasy.gov.pl/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Zarzadzenie_DGLP_nr_78_2025.pdf
7. KB.pl, "Lasy Państwowe ograniczają sprzedaż drewna i zmieniają zasady. Wracamy do wyższych cen?" (15 January 2025) - https://kb.pl/aktualnosci/dzieje-sie-w-polsce/lasy-panstwowe-ograniczaja-sprzedaz-drewna-i-zmieniaja-zasady-jak-to-wplynie-na-ceny/
8. Forsal.pl, "W jakim stanie są finanse Lasów Państwowych? Te dane wiele mówią" (April 2024) - https://forsal.pl/gospodarka/artykuly/9497222,w-jakim-stanie-sa-finanse-lasow-panstwowych-te-dane-wiele-mowia.html
9. Lasy Państwowe (RDLP/Nadleśnictwo Rytel page), "Lasy Państwowe podsumowują 2024 rok. Opublikowaliśmy sprawozdanie finansowo-gospodarcze" - https://rytel.torun.lasy.gov.pl/en/pgl-lasy-panstwowe/-/asset_publisher/x9eK/content/lasy-panstwowe-podsumowuja-2024-rok-opublikowalismy-sprawozdanie-finansowo-gospodarcze
10. Forsal.pl, "Coraz więcej polskiego drewna trafia do krajowych firm, eksport do Chin..." (9 July 2026) - https://forsal.pl/gospodarka/aktualnosci/artykuly/11273732,coraz-wiecej-polskiego-drewna-trafia-do-krajowych-firm-eksport-do-chi.html
11. Forsal.pl, "Ile wyniosła średnia cena za m3 drewna w lipcu? Dane Lasów Państwowych" (4 August 2023) - https://forsal.pl/biznes/aktualnosci/artykuly/9135776,ile-wyniosla-srednia-cena-za-m3-drewna-w-lipcu-dane-lasow-panstwowyc.html
12. Trade.gov.pl, "The Polish furniture industry in mid-2024" - https://www.trade.gov.pl/en/news/the-polish-furniture-industry-in-mid-2024
13. OKO.press, "Certyfikat FSC Lasy Państwowe" (26 May 2023) - https://oko.press/certyfikat-fsc-lasy-panstwowe
14. FSC International, "New opening in the relationship between the Polish State Forests and FSC" (6 March 2024) - https://fsc.org/en/newscentre/general-news/new-opening-in-the-relationship-between-the-polish-state-forests-and-fsc
15. EUWID Wood Products, "Timetable for reintroduction of FSC certification in Poland" (March 2024; paywalled, excerpt only) - https://www.euwid-wood-products.com/news/roundwood-sawnwood/timetable-for-reintroduction-of-fsc-certification-in-poland-200324/
16. LexGO / Arendt, "EUDR simplification review published: what the 2026 package means for in-scope companies" (20 May 2026) - https://www.lexgo.be/en/news-and-articles/14821-eudr-simplification-review-published-what-the-2026-package-means-for-in-scope-companies
17. K. Dróżdż, "The Impact of EU Environmental Policy on Sawmill Operations in Poland - A Decade in Review", Zeszyty Naukowe Politechniki Śląskiej, Seria Organizacja i Zarządzanie, nr 235 (2025) - https://managementpapers.polsl.pl/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/235-Dróżdż-K.pdf
18. Global Wood Markets Info, "Overview and potential of the Polish sawmill industry" (5 September 2018; paywalled intro) - https://globalwoodmarketsinfo.com/overview-and-potential-of-the-polish-sawmill-industry
19. Timber Online, "Reduced availability of raw material puts a strain on Poland's timber industry" (25 April 2025) - https://www.timber-online.net/log_wood/2025/04/reduced-availability-of-raw-material-puts-a-strain-on-poland-s-t.html
20. derevo.ua, "Crisis in Poland's Forest-Wood Industry. Production Falls as the Sector Loses Billions of Zlotys" (1 August 2026; secondary aggregator, advocacy-sourced) - https://derevo.ua/en/publication/kryzys-polskiej-brany-leno-drzewnej-produkcja-4219
21. PAP MediaRoom, "Rośnie ilość biomasy leśnej spalanej w energetyce" (30 March 2022) - https://www.pap.pl/mediaroom/1136777%2Crosnie-ilosc-biomasy-lesnej-spalanej-w-energetyce.html
22. Instytut Badawczy Leśnictwa, "Meet the IBL" - https://ibles.pl/en/meet-the-ibl
23. FAO AGRIS, "Łukasiewicz Research Network - Poznań Institute of Technology" - https://www.fao.org/agris/es/node/126344
24. Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy w Poznaniu, Wydział Leśny i Technologii Drewna (faculty profile) - https://wltd.up.poznan.pl/sites/default/files/dokumenty/Wydzia%C5%82%20Les%CC%81ny%20i%20Technologii%20Drewna%20UPP%20popr.pdf
25. SGGW, Wydział Nauk Leśnych i Drzewnych (website) - https://wnlid.sggw.edu.pl/

Limits of this article

This is a synthesis of open sources read in one research session (October 2026), not a market study, and later events are not reflected.

• Provisional data. All Eurostat 2024 values are provisional and may be revised; some 2020-2023 values are estimates.
• Secondary and advocacy sources. Several figures come from press reports of ministry or LP data (Forsal, KB.pl) or from industry bodies, aggregators and an NGO (Timber Online, derevo.ua, PAP). They are labelled as such and not independently verified.
• Own arithmetic and interpretation are marked in the text and are not facts from the sources.
• Definitions (national versus international forest area, over versus under bark, harvest versus sales, gross versus net) differ between GUS, Eurostat, WISL and LP and are not reconciled.
• Not verified or not found: national GUS removals and species tables for 2024; the number of operating sawmills and size classes; regional sawmill concentration; current FSC and PEFC shares and the outcome of the new national FSC standard; trade values and destinations; the legal source of the 2025 tender criteria; Poland's EUDR risk classification; sawmill labour and energy costs; the official 2026 LP harvest plan; the cause of the 2023 fall in Eurostat sawnwood imports; and continuity of Łukasiewicz-PIT with the former Instytut Technologii Drewna.