This year, the Polish wood industry has found itself in the most difficult moment in decades. Apart from high electricity prices the reason was problems with access to raw materials. In force from 2024 moratorium covering approximately 20 percent forest areaincluding strategic areas such as the Białowieża Forest and the Bieszczady Mountains. As informed by the Director General of the State Forests, in 2025 there will be 2 million cubic meters more on the market. less raw material than a year earlier.
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“There were very reasonable demands from the wood industry that the basic condition for the stable development of the entire industry is knowledge of how much wood there will be on the market. […] We accepted this request in a letter of October 28, 2025. We requested the Director General of the State Forests to developing a short, medium and long-term timber harvesting strategy” – said Radomir Dyjak, deputy director of the forestry and hunting department of the Ministry of Climate and Environment, during a meeting of the environmental protection, natural resources and forestry committee.
As he stated, wood industry declared that if it receives data on the amount of wood on the market in sufficient time, is able to adapt to both quantitative changesas well as changes in the structure of harvested wood, even if its volume is reduced.
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He added that such a strategy will allow not only the wood industry, but also forest service companies to prepare for the supply of raw wood from the State Forests State Forest Holding.
In the presentation presented by Dyjak, the Ministry of Climate said that the strategy is to cover the periods until 2030, 2035 and 2050. and take into account: “current conditions and strategic, social, climatic and economic goals, in particular the needs for stable, sustainable development of PGL State Forests and the entire national forest and wood industry.”
The strategy should be prepared by June 30, 2026.
Trees at risk of dying
The representative of the ministry also informed that the Ministry of Environment and Environment had commissioned an expert opinion determining the possibilities of additional acquisition of raw wood from stands at a very high risk of dying.
“Additional harvesting due to accelerated reconstruction of stands at risk of dying will amount to over 50 million cubic meters over the next decade,” the ministry's presentation said.
Dyjak explained that if the dying of trees is not prevented, sudden death may occuras a result of which a very large amount of wood will be delivered to the market in a short time, which leads to destabilization on the wood market.
The deputy director of the Department of Forestry and Hunting also pointed out that since 2018, wood sales by the State Forests amount to approximately 40 million cubic meters. annually. In 2024 it amounted to 40.6 million, and in the first half of this year. 20.3 million cubic meters
“However, despite the implementation of restrictions on timber harvesting, despite the exclusion of some areas, sales in 2024 were higher by 3.7% compared to 2023.” – he pointed out.
The ministry also announced that despite the introduction of measures in 2024 to strengthen the protection of the most naturally valuable forest areas last year. occurred decrease in the average price of wood by 13.8%. year to year. Despite this the profit of the State Forests for 2024 was higher than planned and amounted to PLN 856 million gross. Back in April 2024, LPs estimated that it would amount to approximately PLN 400 million. From 2021, the key factor influencing the level of revenues of the State Forests are changes in wood prices.
The State Forests manage an area covering approximately 24 percent. land area of Poland, i.e. approx. 76 percent forest area.
