Timber harvest in Switzerland to fall by 2 percent in 2024
The amount of wood harvested in Switzerland has decreased for the second year in a row, particularly in private forests and in logs and trunk wood. In contrast, the assortment of wood chips continued to grow. Overall, the financial situation of forestry operations deteriorated.
In 2024, 4.8 million cubic meters of wood were harvested in Switzerland. This corresponds to a decrease of around 2 percent. This is according to a statement from the Federal Statistical Office and the Federal Office for the Environment. This means that the total harvest fell for the second year in a row.
The reduction was particularly pronounced for lump wood (-11 percent), followed by logs and sawn timber (-2 percent). The sharp decline in logs is mainly attributable to private forests, which was lower in all forest zones with the exception of the Jura Arc and the southern side of the Alps. The forest zones with the greatest changes were the Central Plateau (-94,000 cubic meters) and the Pre-Alps (-42,300 cubic meters).
The canton with the largest volume of timber harvested is Bern with 0.89 million cubic meters. It is followed by the cantons of Vaud, Zurich, Graubünden and Aargau. Their harvest volumes are between 0.44 and 0.34 million cubic meters. Together, they supplied 51 percent of the total wood harvest last year.
The proportion of energy wood in the form of wood chips has continued to increase and now accounts for 44 percent of the total annual harvest. This corresponds to 2.1 million cubic meters. The proportion of energy wood in the total timber harvest has almost doubled over the past 20 years.
In 2024, the 638 forestry operations recorded income of CHF 622 million and expenditure of CHF 651 million. The deficit for Switzerland as a whole therefore amounted to CHF 29 million. Compared to the previous year, it has increased by CHF 9 million. Only the forestry operations in the foothills of the Alps recorded a positive balance.