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<p>The Forestry Commission’s 50 year forecast of softwood timber availability for
Great Britain estimates that 16.5 million cubic metres of softwood was available for
harvest annually in the period 2013–2016. In 2015 and 2016 12.6 million cubic metres
of softwood timber was estimated to have been produced.</p><p> </p><p>Hardwood supply
chains are relatively poorly developed, which makes it much harder to forecast likely
harvesting levels accurately. The ‘50 year forecast of hardwood timber availability’
for Great Britain, which is not based on all broadleaved woodland but only on the
area of broadleaved woodland with evidence of recent management, estimated that 0.4
million cubic metres of hardwood would be available for harvest annually in the period
2013 – 2016. This forecast is thought to have been an under estimate of availability
because it was estimated that 0.63 million cubic metres was produced in 2015 and 0.66
million cubic metres in 2016. This should not be mistaken for any over exploitation
of Great Britain’s broadleaved woodland. This is because this estimated harvest represents
less than 12% of the estimated annual increment of 5.7 million cubic metres. The annual
increment is the volume of additional hardwood that Great Britain’s broadleaved woodlands
grow each year.</p><p> </p>
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