Polish bestseller

Polish products made out of timber - furniture, window and door frames, yachts or paper and packaging – are real bestsellers.
14.07.2016

Polish products made out of timber - furniture, window and door frames, yachts or paper and packaging – are real bestsellers.

Poland maintains rank as world's 10th biggest producer and 4th exporter of furniture. The wood industry sells abroad the commodities of the total annual value accounting for 45 billion PLN, which constitutes 10% of the domestic export. The forestry-wood sector accounts for 2% of the Poland’s gross domestic product (GDP). Not only the sector provides jobs to hundreds thousands of people but also it triggers investments and the development of innovative technology. Since the beginning of political transformation in Poland, the forestry-wood sector attracted foreign capital valued at 30 billion PLN.

The State Forests is one of the top employers in Poland. Moreover, forest and timber provide livelihood to employees of several thousand private industries providing forestry services, who at the commission of the State Forests are planting and tending trees, logging and hauling timer, but most of all the State Forests provides jobs to those employed in tens of thousands companies that constitute timber, furniture and paper industries. All in all, it’s about 375 thousand Poles. Statistically one in one hundred citizens of Poland works in sector connected with forestry and wood processing.

They have a job thanks to forests

25 000 – The State Forests’ employees

50 000 – employed in industries providing forestry services, that harvest timber, plant trees and protect forest

300 000 – employees of sawmills, paper mills, furniture and wood-based panels’ workshops; and the rest that work for the purpose of forestry and timber industry

Source: The State Forests

Among private industries of the forestry-wood sector there are huge corporations with foreign capital, as well big and medium domestic companies, however, 9 out of 10 entities constitute small businesses that hire less than 10 employees. Usually they are family businesses, that cultivate multigenerational traditions connected with forestry, functioning within less developed regions of the country. In those regions, forestry and timber industry along with agriculture remain the only source of income for hundreds thousands of families. About 60% of all workplaces in the forestry-wood sector is located within rural areas.

The forestry-wood sector accounts for 2% of the Poland’s gross domestic product (GDP).

  • 2% of the Poland’s gross domestic product (GDP) is generated by the forestry-wood sector
  • Poland is world's 10th biggest producer and 4th exporter of furniture.
  • 50 % of paper and 9 out of 10 furniture items made in Poland are exported
  • Annual export of timber, paper and furniture industry products accounts for 45 billion PLN (10% of the domestic export)
  • Since 1990 forestry-wood sector attracted foreign capital valued at 30 billion PLN (5,5 percent of all direct foreign investments)
  • Polish citizen uses annually about 100 kilograms of paper (average for UE is 160 kilograms, for USA-230 kilograms)

Source: E. Ratajczak „Potencjał gospodarczy przemysłów opartych na drewnie i perspektywy ich rozwoju", GUS, Warszawa 2012.