The forest industry in the Nordic countries – Sweden, Finland, and Norway – is experiencing a price correction and intense tension in its relationship with European Union institutions in the autumn of 2026, as high production costs and a weak construction market collide with a new wave of environmental regulations created by Brussels bureaucrats. The situation is the same in Latvia. While new, reality-detached regulations and other legal acts are being drafted in the offices of Brussels, and the loudest nature “saviours” on social media portray foresters as destroyers of nature, the forest industry continues its work – planting, tending, and creating the value that sustains Latvia’s regions and exports.
Market situation and economic problems in the autumn of 2026
Following the sharp rise in raw material prices in previous years, the autumn of 2026 has seen a downturn in the Nordic timber market, affecting both forest owners and the processing industry. For example, in Sweden, sawlog prices fell by approximately 6% in the third quarter, while the price of pulpwood deliveries dropped by 5%. In September, transaction volumes in Finland recovered slightly, but stump prices for both sawlogs and, in particular, pulpwood continued to fall. Meanwhile, in Norway, log prices in the autumn of 2026 reached their lowest level in two years, despite still high levels of logging.
Nordic timber processing companies have found themselves caught in a vice – demand for sawn timber is sluggish due to the stagnation of the European construction market, while raw material costs remain higher than the historical average. Trade barriers and high energy and logistics costs place additional pressure on exports to North America. In response to falling timber prices, private forest owners in Sweden and Finland have significantly reduced felling volumes in the autumn of 2026, choosing to wait for better market conditions.
The industry's fight for its interests
To overcome market stagnation and resist restrictions, the Nordic forest industry is taking action at both an economic and the highest political level. The governments of Sweden and Finland have stood firmly on the side of their forest industry. We very much hope that the incoming Latvian government led by Andris Kulbergs will do the same. The Swedish and Finnish prime ministers have appealed to the European Commission leadership, demanding a review of EU climate and land-use (LULUCF) targets and a reduction in the burden on forestry.
Nordic forest owner and timber industry organisations – including Skogsindustrierna in Sweden and Metsäteollisuus in Finland – are actively participating in high-level policy dialogues held by the European Commission in the autumn of 2026. The industry is demanding that active forestry and wood products be recognised as the key solution for replacing fossil resources. Companies continue to invest in bioeconomy innovations – wood fibre packaging, textile fibres, biofuels, and modern timber structures – to reduce dependence on the fluctuations of the traditional sawn timber market.
On 1 September 2026, the first deadline for submitting drafts of national plans for the European Nature Restoration Regulation expired; Nordic foresters are actively working with their governments to prevent disproportionately large areas of commercial forests from being taken out of circulation.
Foresters sharply criticise Brussels bureaucrats
The stance of Nordic forest owners and timber producers against Brussels' policy in the autumn of 2026 is particularly sharp. The industry is convinced that European Union institutions are regulating forestry without understanding the natural conditions of Northern Europe and the centuries-old practice of sustainable forest management.
Nordic foresters have a view on the “loss of logic and reality” in Brussels; they sharply criticise the situation where the European Union demands the development of a green bioeconomy, replacing plastic, concrete, and steel with wood, while at the same time, through nature conservation requirements, such as the Nature Restoration Regulation and LULUCF carbon sequestration targets, effectively limiting wood extraction. Great indignation among Nordic timber producers was caused by the European Commission's actions regarding the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Industry associations pointed out that last-minute amendments, the revision of rules, and the postponement of deadlines create huge legal uncertainty, punish companies that have already invested millions in IT systems and traceability, and distort competition between European and third-country producers.
Swedish and Finnish forest owners – among whom are hundreds of thousands of families – believe that Brussels bureaucrats, with their 'one-size-fits-all' or one size fits all directives, are effectively expropriating the right to manage their property without proper financial compensation. Nordic forest industry representatives emphasise that restricting forestry in Scandinavia will not reduce global demand for wood and paper – it will only shift production to regions outside Europe, where environmental and labour standards are incomparably lower and the 'effect will become a defect'...
Nordic foresters remind us that, according to EU treaties, forest policy is the national competence of each member state, but Brussels, through environmental, climate, and energy directives, is trying to take control of Nordic forests “through the back door,” widely using and, of course, appropriately funding various eco-activist organisations that do not understand or do not want to understand the real situation.
Nordic and Baltic cooperation in defending the interests of the forest industry
In the autumn of 2026, cooperation between Nordic and Baltic forest industry organisations and politicians has become increasingly close, as the regions have very similar forestry models, high forest cover, and common problems caused by Brussels bureaucrats and local eco-activists.
Nordic and Baltic forest owner and timber industry associations are trying to coordinate their position at the European level by regularly providing unified opinions to the European Commission and the European Parliament. The main common message is that Brussels' “one size fits all” directives do not take into account the specifics of the Northern European and Baltic region, where sustainable forestry is based on centuries of experience and where forest areas and stock have grown, not shrunk, over the last decades.
In both regions, foresters and timber producers are jointly opposing the administrative burden and legal uncertainty created by the EU Deforestation Regulation, pointing out that in countries with strict forest supervision, such requirements only increase production costs and reduce competitiveness in the global market. The industries emphasise that overly strict carbon sequestration (LULUCF) targets must not paralyse active forest management.
Nordic groups are among the largest investors and forest owners in the Baltic states, so both knowledge of modern logging technologies and crisis management strategies overlap closely. For Baltic foresters and timber producers, the Nordic political weight in Brussels serves as an essential ally to jointly achieve a more pragmatic European forest policy focused on bioeconomy development.
Pragmatism versus ideology – Latvia's forest industry must protect its operational capacity
European Union environmental and climate policy is currently in dangerous contradiction with the EU's own bioeconomy and energy independence goals. While Nordic and Baltic foresters provide a sustainable resource base for the green transition, Brussels' regulation – from the Nature Restoration Regulation and LULUCF targets to the legally unsettled Deforestation Regulation – increasingly limits economic activity and property rights without adequate financial compensation.
At the same time, a systematic smearing of the industry has long been observed in the Latvian public space, where emotionally and scientifically unfounded claims of radical eco-activism often prevail over facts. It is easier to photograph clearings and collect “likes” on social media than to answer, for example, about budget formation for national defence or paying teachers' salaries... A healthy forest does not appear by itself – it is the work of foresters who plant tens of millions of new trees every year.
Ignoring the fact that Latvia's forest area and timber stock have doubled over the last hundred years, a misleading impression is deliberately created that active forest management is contrary to nature conservation. Practice proves – only purposefully tended, regenerated, and climate-resilient stands are able to fully sequester carbon and resist pest damage.
The Latvian forest industry is one of the most important pillars of the country's exports and regional employment. In order to maintain competitiveness and prevent the outflow of production and jobs to countries with lower environmental standards, our forest industry, together with Nordic partners, must continue to firmly defend a science-based, economically grounded forest policy in both Riga and Brussels.
Sources: Forest industry information websites of Latvia, Finland, Sweden, and Norway