Problem of small-sized wood
Background to the special meeting
Definition of small-sized wood
Objectives of the special meeting
Conclusions
Future action
Utilization of Small-sized Wood
An FAO/ECE special meeting on the utilization of small-sized wood, attended by more than 106 participants from 21 countries, was held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva from 13 to 18 March 1961.
The use of fuelwood is gradually declining in many European countries in the face of competition from coal, oil and gas. Since fuelwood is derived largely from small trees, coppice and lop and top, either new uses have to be found for surplus wood from these sources or else it is left standing or lying wasted in the forest. The amount of such wood, much of it hardwood, is very considerable. On the other hand, demand for industrial wood is increasing rapidly in nearly all countries, and the pulp and board industries in particular need to find new sources of raw materials from which to supplement their traditional supplies. The limiting factor to the greater industrial use of small-sized wood is no longer a purely technical, but an economic one. The high cost of harvesting and transporting it and its lower utilization value make it uncompetitive compared with other assortments of wood.
In 1950, the problem of wood waste in the forest, especially of wood used in the past for fuelwood, was recognized by a working party of experts on the more rational utilization of wood. In 1959, recommendations were made by two subsidiary bodies of the ECE Timber Committee, the Consultation of Experts on Wood Utilization and the Joint FAO/ECE Committee on Forest Working Techniques and Training of Forest Workers (in collaboration with the International Labour Office [ILO]), that action should be taken to study the problem by convening a special meeting, the Joint Committee adding that the meeting should be under the chairmanship of Mr. Steinlin (Switzerland). The 17th session of the Timber Committee (E/ECE/TIM/63) endorsed these recommendations as did the 10th session of the European Forestry Commission.
The following definition of small-sized wood was used as a basis for the papers and discussions at the special meeting:
"those varieties of wood, broadleaved and coniferous, produced in forestry, which, because of their small dimensions, are suitable for a limited number of uses only and which therefore Buffer from the competition of other assortments produced by the forest industry."
This definition deliberately excluded the waste from wood processing, included both coniferous and broadleaved species, and laid down no specific limit as to size, although, in effect, it included wood mostly less than 10 centimeters in diameter. Thus the definition of the term "small-sized wood" covers to a large extent undersized wood, which is wood generally considered too small for economic utilization. Small-sized or undersized wood, according to the above definition, occurs as coppice wood, thinnings from young stands, the lop and top from the felling of larger trees, and the clearings of brush and scrub.
The aim of the special meeting was to bring together persons from various countries with expert knowledge of the harvesting and utilization of small-sized wood, to carry out an exchange of information about successful methods used at present, so as to promote the dissemination of practical solutions to harvesting and utilization problems. Additional aims were to help co-ordinate at the international level research into, and development of, processes and machinery for the felling, transporting and conversion of small-sized wood; and to give producers an idea of the present and future requirements of industrial and nonindustrial consumers for this class of wood; in brief, to collect and disseminate information and deas by the application of which both producers and consumers might make the utilization of small-sized wood economically feasible.
The meeting was conducted on the lines of a seminar; prepared papers were read on 14 selected topics, with open discussions following the reading of the papers on each topic. The topics were divided into three broad categories:
1. the nature and economic importance in six regions in Europe (including the U.S.S.R.) of the assortments occurring within the definition of small-sized wood;2. information concerning present industrial uses and consumer requirements in the pulp, paper, fibreboard and particle board industries, for timber as a source of energy and for pitprops;
3. the greater efficiency of harvesting and transporting techniques resulting from improved working methods and mechanization as applied to wood derived from four classes of forest stands producing small-sized wood - wood from coppice and coppice with standards, thinnings from young stands, lop and top from the felling of larger trees and older stands, and the clearings from brush and scrub.
At the end of the meeting three rapporteurs gave résumés of the important points arising out of the papers and discussions: one on the role of small-sized wood in the forest economies of European countries and its impact on national forest policies; one on the scope for the industrial utilization of small-sized wood; and one on trends in harvesting and transporting techniques. The chairman brought the meeting to a close with a statement indicating the main conclusions he drew from the meeting.
The assessment that follows has been made by the Secretariat. It is based on the opinions and conclusions expressed by the chairman at the end of the meeting, and also on those of the three rapporteurs, although the Secretariat has supplemented them with its own conclusions drawn from the meeting.
First, the dimensions of "small-sized wood," as defined for the purposes of the special meeting, cannot be accurately determined. Consequently, only very rough estimates of the volume of such wood potentially available can be made. It is estimated, however, that the total quantity of wood available in Europe, excluding the U.S.S.R., and falling within the definition of small-sized wood as used by the special meeting, is between 40 and 60 million cubic meters a year. This is wood which is at present being used either as fuelwood or not at all and which could be used for industrial purposes, but only if conditions arose in which its utilization became economic. On the other hand, consumption in Europe, excluding the U.S.S.R., of industrial wood raw materials, particularly by the pulp, paper and board industries, will continue to increase rapidly, and it is estimated that it will rise by about 60 million cubic meters between 1955 and 1970, or by more than 100 percent. As the chairman said in his summary: "Forecasts for wood consumption over the next 10 to 15 years anticipate a considerable rise in demand, particularly in those industries which could utilize small-sized wood, such as the pulp, paper and board industries. As it is in general impossible to increase fellings proportionately, it appears likely that the demand of the industries could only be satisfied if at least part of the small-sized wood used hitherto as fuelwood or not used at all were allocated to this purpose."
Secondly, there is no insurmountable physical or technical obstacle to the greater utilization of small-sized or undersized wood. The chief obstacle is, however, an economic one. In his summary the chairman pointed out that: "Despite the favorable outlook for the use of small-sized wood, the fact should not be overlooked that, from the economic point of view, this category will always be a marginal product, because its relative value is bound always to be lower than that of other categories, while production costs will always be higher. To this day, there is no end-use for which small-sized wood is more suitable than larger sizes. The consumer will always therefore give preference to larger sizes and resort to small-sized wood only when there is no alternative source of supply or if the price is considerably lower relative to other categories of wood."
Within certain limits, the utilization value per unit volume of wood is proportional to its diameter, while the production costs are inversely proportional to its diameter. Expressed graphically, the point at which the utilization value/diameter curve crosses the production cost/diameter curve indicates the economic marginal diameter at which wood can be produced and Bold without incurring a loss. The chairman had the following to say in this connection concerning small-sized wood: "Its value is lower and its production costs higher than that of other categories produced under similar conditions. Due to the specific shapes of the value and the cost curves as a function of the wood diameter, even minor changes both in value and cost result in important shifts of the economic marginal diameter." To make the harvesting and utilization of undersized wood economically worthwhile, two possibilities exist: to reduce the costs of production and to increase its value to the consumer.
Reduction of production costs
As regards production costs, it was apparent at the special meeting that great attention is being paid in most countries to raising productivity of harvesting and transporting operations and to the substitution of labor by mechanization, in view of the faster upward movement of labor costs compared with costs of machinery. The chairman had the following to say on this point in his summary: "Rational transportation methods and the use of modern machinery and equipment may permit a further reduction in the production costs of small-sized wood. However, in the long run, the production cost ratio of small-sized wood to larger-sized wood may even be expected to shift against the former due to the fact that the share of human labor is bound to be greater (in producing the former) and also that in the future the cost of labor is expected to rise more rapidly than that of machinery."
Increasing value to the consumer
The other possibility, that of increasing the value of small-sized wood to the consumer by employing better industrial processing techniques, can be only indirectly influenced by the producers. Producers can help consumers to extend and increase their utilization of small-sized wood assortments by better organization of deliveries, for instance by arranging and carrying out long-term agreements for the delivery of these assortments. The meeting made it clear that, of the various kinds of wood utilization, its use for wood distillation, power production, mining timber and fuelwood is declining; also that wood hydrolysis for the production of alcohol, sugar and plastics is not economic under present European conditions.
The best prospects lie with the pulp and paper, fibreboard and particle board industries, that is to say, those wood-consuming industries which have increased markedly in importance in recent years and which have the greatest interest in undertaking research with the object of broadening and increasing the utilization of small-sized wood. Promising steps have already been taken in some of the northern countries, where pulpwood down to 5 centimeters in diameter has been used in recent years. Of the problems to be solved in using wood of such small diameters, that of barking seems to be the most urgent.
The points emerging from the discussions at the special meeting that seem of importance for the formulation and implementation of national forest policies, are threefold.
Harvesting and transporting of small-sized wood
Steps should be taken to put into practice successful working techniques and equipment, and research intensified to improve existing techniques and machinery and develop new ones. In undertaking research, the following principles should be taken into account:
1. the necessity for reducing hand labor by simplifying working methods, by one-man work and mechanization;2. the adaptation of the materials being harvested, as regards their shape, composition and the methods of sorting and grading them, to suit new timesaving techniques (e.g., using wood in longer lengths than the traditional ones, only roughly branching logs before chipping, etc.);
3. the carrying out of the various operations of harvesting, transporting and primary conversion using larger handling units, e.g., bundles of small-sized wood, rather than single pieces; alternatively the conversion of the raw material at the earliest possible stage into an homogeneous state (e.g., chips).
Marketing and utilization of "small-sized wood"
A lead should be given by encouraging and supporting producers and consumers to contract long-term agreements for the delivery and acceptance of supplies of small-sized wood at agreed prices. Before investing capital on research and on modifications to their equipment to make the utilization of raw materials other than the traditional ones possible, industrial consumers require, as a prerequisite, assurances regarding regular supplies of given specifications over a long period of time.
Silvicultural measures
The fact must be clearly faced that, as a source of industrial wood raw material, undersized or small-sized wood, as defined for the purpose of the special meeting, will always be in a weak competitive position, technically and economically, compared with the traditional assortments of industrial wood, such as pulpwood of established sizes and species. Once having accepted this fact, it is clear that implementation of points made in the two sections above would provide only a partial solution to the problem. The logical objective should be, therefore, to eliminate, as far as possible, the production of the smallest and lowest qualities of wood. A certain volume, in the form of early thinnings and of lop and top, is unavoidable, but by the adoption or modification of certain silvicultural practices, improvements to the structure and composition of many low-value forest stands could be achieved. The following possibilities are worthy of careful study:
Conversion of coppice. The attention and research already being applied in many countries to the conversion of coppice and coppice with standards should be intensified, including inquiry into the feasibility of growing a higher percentage of conifers in stands, where it is justifiable by site and biological factors. Priority should be given to the conversion, within the limits of the site factors, of those stands of the poorest sizes and qualities, for which there is little prospect of ever finding economic utilization in their present form.
Silvicultural measures in high forest. Greater consideration and research should be applied to those silvicultural methods aimed at producing a lower percentage of undersized wood from high forest. At the meeting the question was raised whether, in plantations, planting distances could be increased and thinning regimes adjusted to reduce the amount of undersized wood and of uneconomic work required in young stands, in the process of producing raw materials of the size and quality acceptable by industry.1 In naturally regenerated stands, the early removal of surplus seedlings and undesirable species, as well as the application of modified cleaning and thinning regimes, could also be undertaken to achieve the same objectives.
1 In evaluating the quality of raw material acceptable by the pulp and board industries, the shift toward somewhat less exacting requirements as to quality should be borne in mind; also the fact that these industries are taking a steadily increasing share of the total volume of forest removals. Consequently, silvicultural methods aimed at producing as low a volume as possible of the smallest sizes of wood, for instance, by wider planting distances and less early thinning, are more or less compatible with the less exacting requirements of the processing industries as regards defects such as knotty wood and high-percentage bark content. No general ruling could be applied, however, regarding the quality of wood that should be grown; each situation should be considered on its own merits.
