Volume of wood harvested in Australia - Data and Analysis (1968-2034)

IBISWorld forecasts the volume of wood harvested to edge down 0.4% over 2026-27, to a total of 22.3 million cubic metres. Despite mounting demand from residential building construction, strengthened by rising dwelling commencements, tightening native timber logging and harvesting regulations are limiting volumes.The volume of wood harvested in Australia has decreased over the past five years. Wood volumes declined sharply over the three years through 2022-23 as a result of the severe bushfire events of 2019-20. Damaged native forests and plantations meant wood available to harvest was limited in many locations across eastern Australia. A ban on logging in the 90,000 hectares of old-growth forest in Victoria, announced by the State Government in November 2019, and a Supreme Court decision that led to stricter rules for VicForests operations in November 2022, exacerbated this decline. A total ban on native timber logging in the state came into effect in January 2024, six years earlier than originally planned. A ban on native forest logging in Western Australia also went into force. These actions have contributed towards the fall in the volume of hardwood harvested, though the extent of the decline has moderated in the past two years as the effects of the bans normalise volumes.Oversupply of multi-unit dwellings in some markets, as well as skyrocketing interest rates, has discouraged new construction projects, restricted the use of timber, and placed downward pressure on the volume of wood harvested over the past five years. Additionally, demand for timber-based products in export markets has been highly volatile, putting downwards pressure of domestic harvests. China banned imports of Australian timber logs in late 2020. Exports of wood-based panels recovered in 2021-22, but sawnwood exports fell further. However, these have bounced back over the past three years, with a resurgence in exports of both sawnwood and wood-based panels in the three years through 2024-25.Demand from China for woodchips fell significantly over the two years through 2022-23, largely due to deteriorating relations between the two countries (there was no official ban). Australian Eucalyptus hardwood chips are unable to compete on price, which has caused them to lose market share in the Chinese market for woodchips to lower-per-unit-cost varieties like Acacia grown in Vietnam. According to ABARES, overall woodchip export volumes from Australia are set to fall by over 20% over the five years through 2026-27. Due to a confluence of these factors, IBISWorld forecasts the total volume of wood harvested in Australia to decrease at a compound annual rate of 3.0% over the five years through 2026-27.