20 April 2017
PDF version [254KB]
Patrick
Nykiel
Statistics and Mapping Section
Introduction
This guide provides a quick overview of data sources for key
statistics relating to the Forestry sector–production, trade and employment. Two
primary sources of relevant statistics are released regularly. ABARES (the Australian
Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences) publishes Australian
Forest and Wood Products Statistics biannually, which includes a quarterly
breakdown covering production, trade and employment data. ABARES also publishes
a snapshot of additional statistics, including detailed forest cover measures, in
the State
of the Forests report released every five years.
Production statistics
ABARES’ Australian
Forest and Wood Products Statistics (AFWPS) overview and associated
tables are the primary source for production related statistics.
Available statistics
Statistics relating to production include:
- Plantation area by
type and state (Item 4)
- Value of logs
harvested by type (Item 7) and state (Item 8b)
- Volume of logs
harvested by state, forest type and log type (Item 8a)
- Annual wood product
production (Item 11)
- Sawn wood production
by state (Item 12)
Forestry trade statistics
AFWPS includes trade statistics collected by the Australian
Bureau of Statistics. One term to note with a specific meaning in these tables
is ‘Secondary Wood Products’ which refers to furniture, prefabricated buildings,
printed articles and similar products. The Parliamentary Library can also
provide detailed trade statistics on request.
Available statistics
Trade statistics are divided into imports and exports. The
AFWPS summary tables offer:
- Imports Summary (Item
23)
- Exports Summary (Item
24)
- Imports by selected
countries–China, Canada, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, NZ, USA (Item
25)
- Exports by selected
countries–China, Taiwan, HK, Japan, Malaysia, NZ, Rep. of Korea (Item 26)
- Secondary Wood
Product Imports (Item 28)
- Secondary Wood
Product Exports (Item29)
Fine detail statistics are available in the import and export
tables:
- Imports of Wood
Products by quantity and volume with state and import country breakdowns (Item
30-49)
- Exports of Wood
Products by quantity and volume with state and export country breakdowns(Item
50-66)
Forest coverage statistics
Forest coverage is a subjective measure due to differing
definitions of what constitutes forest. To ensure consistency, data is collated
and centralised into the National Forest Inventory (NFI). Given the complexity
of the data collection and processing which uses a spatial dataset, statistics
are only released every five years (2013 being the most recent). Improvements
in measurement and processing algorithms that have come with increasing spatial
resolution make the statistics between years difficult to compare. The spatial
dataset ‘Forests of Australia’ is publically available and mapping products can
be generated by the Parliamentary Library on request.
The purpose of the State of the Forests Report is to report
internationally on sustainable forestry management. The report criteria and
indicators are modified from the original set developed within the Montreal
Process which arose from the 1992 Rio Convention. As a result the statistics are
oriented toward demonstrating progress toward these criteria and indicators for
sustainable management.
Available statistics
The State of the Forests Report and associated tables offer
the following relevant statistics for Australia broken down by state:
- Area of Forest by Type
and Tenure (Indicator 1.1a,b)
- Area of Native Forest
available for wood production (Indicator 2.1a)
- Annual removal of
wood products compared with sustainable yield (Indicator 2.1c)
Employment statistics
The ABS is the primary source for employment information, which can be
provided at the state level. These figures are estimates based on Labour Force,
and Census reporting. The AFWPS republishes this annual data as a time series.
Available statistics
The Parliamentary Library can provide statistics on industry
employment compared with a variety of Census measured variables as required.
The AFWPS reports both Labour Force statistics for the
Forestry Sector as well as the Australian Industry Survey Results:
- Labour Force by sub
industry (Item 16a)
- Australian Industry
Survey by sub industry (Item 16b)
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