Finland: Forest Investment Return at -13.2% in March 2026

Embargoed until 05 May 2026 at 13:00 CET

In March, the return on investment of Finnish private forests was -13.2% year-on-year. Thus, the return remains practically at the same level with the February figure which was -13.4%. The calculation compares the return received by a forest owner during the last 12 months compared to the preceding period.

The forest investment return decreased due to a reduction in the forest owner’s revenue compared to the previous year. In terms of revenue to the forest owner, the return was -14.1%, considering harvesting volumes, stumpage prices, and silviculture costs. On the other hand, the value due to biological growth – net of harvesting – during the growing season, generated a return of about one percent and mitigated a part of the decline in the stumpage revenue with the total return amounting to -13.2% in March.

The return on investment since the start of the year improved in March to -1.2%, compared with -3.3% in February. This was mainly due to the halt in the decline of timber prices and a slight increase.

Following the discontinuation of the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) with the statistics on investment returns on non-industrial private forests (https://www.luke.fi/en/statistics/forestry-as-an-investment-statistics-discontinued/forestry-as-an-investment-2024). Indufor Oy continues the statistics of the Forest Investment Return Index for private forests on a regular basis based on data produced by Luke. The statistics concern about 600 000 private forest owners in Finland with a total forest area of 12.4 million ha. The method is based on the Montgomery–Vartia index, which allows the return to be consistently divided into components. Indufor has switched to using monthly data, which enables more accurate measurement.

s Finnish forests account for about 20% of the EU's timber market, the yield calculation can be considered indicative on a broader scale. In addition, the index provides information from the global international market, which buys more than 70% of the country's forest industry production.

 Founded in 1980, Indufor Oy (www.induforgroup.com) is a globally renowned expert in forest and natural resource issues with operations on five continents. The company has served more than 1 000 customers and has field experience from more than a hundred countries. The company's headquarters are in Helsinki, Finland, and the company employs more than 60 people. 

For further information, please contact:

Petteri Nuolivirta, Business Director +358 40 716 4266, petteri.nuolivirta@induforgroup.com

Jarno Seppälä, Managing Director +358 40 551 5343, jarno.seppala@induforgroup.com