UK Sawmills: Production and Consumption Statistics, 1994-2018

UK sawmill statistics from 1994 to 2018, covering the number of mills, softwood consumption, and sawn softwood production. The data is broken down by UK constituent country and mill size. The dataset is produced by the Forestry Commission and is released twice a year to support official National Statistics publications.

Use Cases

• Analyzing trends in UK softwood production over time based on the 1994-2018 time series.
• Comparing sawmill industry activity across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland based on the geographic breakdown.
• Studying the structure of the sawmill industry based on the breakdown by size of mill.
• Forecasting timber supply for related industries based on historical consumption and production figures.

Strengths

• Covers a 25-year time series from 1994 to 2018.
• Provides breakdowns by UK constituent country and by mill size.
• Released twice yearly to support official National Statistics.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data freshness should be verified; the last metadata update is 2026-06-29.

Provenance

Source

Forestry Commission

Collection Method

Likely collected via industry surveys or administrative reporting.

Time Range

1994 to 2018

Freshness

Released twice yearly (provisional in May, final in September).

Geography

United Kingdom, broken down by England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.