Sweden and Finland together make up about 30% of the total global CTL market. During the first decade of the 2000s this market grew by 50% to about 3,000 machines sold annually. A majority of these machines are made in Sweden and Finland, and it is this Swedish forest machine manufacturing sector that the new Skogforsk survey values at about 330 million euros. This figure does not include the value of harvesting heads and other equipment, which are exported separately. The most important growth markets are South America, south-east Asia and China – thanks to the spread of plantation forestry – plus Russia.
One factor that has contributed to the growing export success of many small Swedish manufacturers is the fact that the international industry trade fair, Elmia Wood, is held on their home ground.
“This is where many Swedish companies have established their first contacts with new markets, and then their exports have just grown from there,” explains Per Jonsson, the project manager of Elmia’s forestry fairs.
The manufacture of forest machines – including the operations of subcontractors – currently employs about 2,000 people in Sweden, says the Skogforsk survey. Most of these jobs are in rural areas and are spread throughout the country.
Skogforsk concludes that a strong forest machine manufacturing industry in Sweden, with products that are designed for domestic conditions and environmental regulations, has proven to be of decisive importance both to the profitability of the Swedish forest industry and to ensuring the competitive supply of raw materials to that industry. These in turn are an important prerequisite for continued investment in the Swedish forest industry.
Swedish forest machine manufacturers are relatively small in terms of their annual revenue but they have a high level of technical expertise and are very innovative. One issue with strategic ramifications is therefore how these companies, with their lack of cohesive organisation, can be strengthened and developed in Sweden, for instance with the help of advanced technical research at universities and other third-level institutions. Skogforsk argues that such help is a necessity for continued productivity growth in the forest industry, improved competitiveness, higher export earnings from forest machines and more jobs in this sector.
For more information, please contact Per Jonsson, project manager Elmia AB, +46 36 15 21 93, per.jonsson@elmia.se