Forestry

Forestry results of official agricultural statistics are obtained from the main survey of land use and the survey of forestry holdings (felling statistics). These statistics provide information on forestry structures and they are used in environmental-economic accounts and carbon dioxide balances. They are also used to assess potential availabilities of raw materials.

Size structure of holdings

The size structure of holdings with forest areas is determined on the basis of the main survey of land use. The number of holdings and the forest area are shown in a breakdown by kind of ownership (state forests, forests of corporate bodies, private forests) and by size classes of forest areas. The forest area of agricultural and forestry holdings in Germany covers approximately 8.9 million hectares. 7.4 million hectares of that area are operated by forestry holdings,that is holdings with at least 10 hectares of forests and without agricultural output of relevance, and 1.5 million hectares by agricultural farms. The forest areas operated by forestry holdings consist of state forests (48%), forests of corporate bodies (29%) and private forests (23%).
The federal state with by far the largest share of the forest stand is Bavaria. Its share of the forest area operated by agricultural and forestry holdings amounts to nearly 22%. The federal states that follow are Baden-Württemberg with more than 13%, Brandenburg and Lower Saxony with about 10% each.

Felling statistics

Felling statistics record the cutting of raw timber in forestry holdings broken down by the four types of ownership - forests of the Federation, forests of federal states, forests of corporate bodies and private forests - and differentiated by the most important wood assortments. The data is broken down by the following four groups of wood species

• oak, red oak
• common beech and other deciduous wood
• spruce, fir and Douglas fir
• pine, larch, strobe

Since 2002 the reference period has been a half calendar year (formerly 1/10 – 31/03 or 01/04 – 30/09) and from 2007 on it will be a calendar year.
The main users of the results include the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the European Commission, the Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, the respective ministries of the federal states and scientific institutions. Other users of these statistics are associations, agricultural chambers and offices, pressure groups, consulting associations, municipalities, businessmen and private people.
Detailed information about statistics on land use can be found in the respective quality reports (only in German).

For more information please see Publications Agrastrukturerhebung (only in German) and GENESIS-Online (only in German).

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