Finland: Forest Investment Return at -13.2% over the past twelve months and 5.5% over a five-year holding period in May 2026

In May, the return on investment of Finnish private forests was -13.2 percent year-on-year, remaining close to the figures recorded in April (-13.0%) and March (-13.2%). The year-to-date investment return improved from 0.8% in April to 2.3% in May.

Over a five-year forest property holding period (from May 2021 to May 2026), the return stood at 5.5% per annum. The annualized return for 5-year holding has decreased over the past year from 10.2 percent in May 2025 to 5.5 percent in May 2026.

The recent changes in returns were mainly driven by movements in stumpage prices. While both sawlog and pulpwood prices have increased steadily during the spring, they remain below the levels recorded at the same time last year, particularly for pulpwood.

Following the discontinuation by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) of its calculation of the investment returns for 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 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.

As 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 one thousand clients 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:

Topi Pohjankoski, Indufor Data & Technology, +358 45 267 0894, topi.pohjankoski@induforgroup.com

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