Sweden – A World Wide Market Supplier: With 70 percent of its land covered in forest, Sweden is the third largest exporter of sawn timber in the world. In Europe, the Swedish sawmill industry holds a prominent position, as the secondlargest producer and the largest exporter of sawn softwood. The Swedish sawmill industry has long experience of global exports and Sweden’s geographical location makes it possible to reliably deliver wood anywhere in the world. Big consuming markets of Swedish wood are Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Swedish sawmill companies are well established to handle foreign trade and are increasing their exports to India.
The total Swedish production of sawn and planed timber stands at 18 million m3, of which 13 million m3 are exported. Large investments in the modernization of the Swedish sawmills have resulted in automated high-speed manufacturing technology. This enables the sawmills to produce high quality products in accordance with customer demands in an efficient way.
Swedish Timber : Exported sawn timber from Sweden is quality sorted, length packaged and dried to the final moisture content relevant to the end use of the product. Many sawmills can also plane, profile, glue, finger-joint and pressure treat the timber, if required by the customer. More and more products are being refined into finished end products at the sawmills.
Swedish wood can be used for the manufacture of structural elements in all sorts of buildings, for cladding products and joinery.
Wood Features – Pine and Spruce : Swedish sawn timber consists mainly of two conifer species: pine (Pinus sylvestris) and spruce (Piceaabies). Swedish sawn timber is of high quality and has medium course texture with uniform and straight grains. Heartwood color can vary from red/ brown to yellow/white and sapwood color is often yellow/ white. Swedish pine and spruce are light weighted which adds to its good machining properties. Swedish timber is very strong in relation to its weight. Natural presence of fresh nots gives wooden surfaces a lively structures. The structure reflects the life of a once living organism formed by natural conditions surrounding the living tree during its somewhat 90 years of growth.
The wood quality of Swedish timber is usually specified via appearance grading in line with standard SS-EN 1611-1, according to a company-specific grading, or via strength grading of the wood. The Swedish sawmills produce a wide selection of different qualities of sawn and planed pine and spruce. The Swedish sawmills can also provide specially ordered grades of timber and timber with special dimensions.
The dimensional accuracy of the wood is improved through planing, known as dimension planing. Profiling is used for certain products, such as skirting and architraves. Kiln drying is also increasing the dimensional stability.
Kiln Drying for Dimension Stability : Nearly all sawn timber from Sweden is kiln dried: 50 percent is dried in compartment kilns and 50 percent in progressive kilns. Compartment kilns
are becoming more common. The target moisture content is in general 16 % for planed timber and 18 % for sawn timber. For joinery and mouldings the target moisture content is 12 % and for timber in furniture it is 8 %. Dried timber has increased dimension stability and is ready to use in the right application.
Common Uses of Swedish Wood : Swedish wood is used for furniture, floors, wall panels, mouldings, windows, doors, outdoor decking, packaging and as a construction material. Traditionally, Swedish spruce is used for construction and Swedish pine for interior decoration and decking.
Furniture : Thanks to its high quality, Swedish pine is a material that is very well suited for furniture, as it is easy to work with in the production process. The Swedish sawmill industry delivers wood adapted to the needs of the furniture industry: wood with a consistent quality, precise dimensions and a low moisture content. The surface of Swedish pine and spruce also offers endless aesthetic possibilities. The surface can for example be brushed, sanded or carved to give the wood different textures. Swedish pine and spruce also have the advantage of being light coloured wood species, so they can easily be stained in different colours and shades.
Interior Products : Swedish pine is also used for wall panelling, floorboards and mouldings, as well as for doors and windows. Panels and floorboards are available in a wide range of profiles and finishes, to create either a traditional style or give a more modern appearance to the room. The Swedish sawmill industry can deliver panels and floorboards in many different styles and dimensions, and in some cases also ready-painted and treated panels and boards. Wooden windows and doors are available in a wide variety of designs and finishes, to suit all architectural styles. The Swedish sawmill industry can produce window components ready to use by the window industry.
Outdoor Use : Pressure treated wood for outdoor use is another use for Swedish pine. Pressure treated timber can be used for construction, landscaping, marine environments, railways, garden products and many other applications. It offers good moisture resistance and enjoys an extended service life. Pressure treated wood is a good alternative to non-renewable materials.
Glulam : Glulam – glued laminated timber – opens up many architectural possibilities. Glulam consists of individual laminates of structural timber, providing a highly effective utilisation of the raw material. The laminates are fingerjointed to give greater lengths and then glued together to produce the desired size. In relation to its weight, glulam is one of the strongest construction materials available. This means that glulam beams can span large distances.
Single-family Houses : Sweden has a long tradition of building one and two-storey buildings in wood, and about 90 percent of the single-family houses in Sweden are constructed in wood. Wood is a light material that can carry heavy weights and it is therefore suitable for a high degree of prefabrication.
Multi-storey Buildings: The interest in timber construction for multi-storey buildings is increasing worldwide due to its efficiency and climate friendliness. The construction of a multi-storey building in wood reduces the emission of carbon dioxide by approximately half compared to concrete (IVL Rapport Nr 2260)
Packaging : Swedish timber is also used for packaging purposes and suits various functions and quality requirements. Examples of wood packaging are pallets, pallet collars, cable drums and packaging crates.
The Sustainable Swedish Forestry : 70 percent of Sweden’s land area is covered by forest, primarily coniferous forest. In less than 100 years, Sweden’s forest assets have doubled. And since the felling rate is less than the growth rate, the volume of forest continues to increase by a net annual increment.
Swedish forestry is sustainable in the long term. Economic, social and biological sustainability are all cornerstones of sustainable forestry.
50 % of the Swedish forest land is owned by individual families and 25 % by private companies own. State owned companies own 14 %, the state itself 3 %. The remaining 8 % are owned by other private and public actors.
All Swedish Timber is Sustainable : Sweden has sustainable forestry that is subject to legislation requiring nature conservation and replanting. All harvested forests must be regenerated either through planned planting or by leaving trees that naturally produce seeds and new seedlings. Every harvested tree in Sweden, is replaced by at least two new ones.
In addition to the forestry legislation, there are also voluntary international forest certification systems, under which forestry is verified through so-called third-party certification. The two systems used in Sweden are FSC and PEFC. These are both international systems for forest certification, and around two thirds of Sweden’s productive forest land is certified in accordance with these.
How to Procure Swedish Timber: Sweden has a great number of sawmilling companies, of which many have well established export sales offices. To find a supplier of Swedish wood, Visit: www.swedishwood.com/about_us/our-members/
Further information about wood properties, wood products, the Swedish sawmills and sustainable forestry and much more can be found at www.swedishwood.com.