Wood Manufacturing and Furniture Industry in Lithuania

Wood manufacturing and furniture industry is a very old and traditional industry in Lithuania. This is because the processing of wood in Lithuania are favorable conditions, nearly a third of Lithuania‘s territory is covered with forests. In 2009, the state owned 1065 thousand ha or 49% of the forests. The other part consists of private forests and woodlands intended for privatization (restitution). In early 2010, 2815 companies of various sizes were engaged in manufacturing of wood products. The number of companies has slightly decreased recently, their specializations have undergone changes. Export of Lithuanian wood products was increasing for a number of years and reached EUR 1.4 billion in 2007. Import experienced similar growth and reached EUR 900 million in the same year. The share of wood products in the whole export in 2007 accounted for 11.9%, in 2009 it dropped down to 10.3%. Wood processing industry, product manufacturing process creates a lot of waste. Some are harmless, others - hazardous, the latter must be given special attention. , the wood products industry and its manufacturing processes at the beginning of 2009 were raised to 42,797 tons of various industrial wood wastes. 2009 year-end balance of wood industry waste was 43,089 tones. Hazardous waste in early 2009 was 285 tons, and at the end of the year - 2,532 tons.