Forest Investment Return at -13.4% in February 2026

In February, the return on investment of Finnish private forests was -13.4% year-over-year. Thus, the return continued to decline from the January figure which was -13.0%.  The calculation compares the return received by a forest owner during the last 12 months compared to the preceding period. The method applies monthly data and allows the return to be divided into its components.

The forest investment return decreased due to a reduction in forest owner´s revenue. A smaller share of the biological growth of forests was harvested and sold whilst wood prices continued to follow a declining trend which began in August 2025. In terms of stumpage income to the forest owner, the return was -14.4%, taking into account harvesting volumes, stumpage prices as well as silviculture costs. In a longer term, the stumpage income is a main determinant for the value of a forest property.  On the other hand, including a value due to biological growth - net of harvesting- during the growing season generated a return of slightly over one percent, mitigating somewhat the decline in the stumpage revenue with the total return amounting to -13.4% in February.

The year-to-date investment return for 2026, i.e. the return accrued for the current calendar year from the beginning of 2026, was -3.3% in February, which was also the figure in January.

The Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE) has announced the discontinuation of the statistics on investment returns on non-industrial private forests (https://www.luke.fi/en/statistics/forestry-as-an-investment-statistics-discontinued/forestry-as-an-investment-2024).

Indufor Oy has decided to continue to calculate and publish the Forest Investment Return Index for private forests on a regular basis. The index will continue to be based on data produced by LUKE, but Indufor has updated the calculation method at the same time. The revised method is based on the Montgomery-Vartia index, which allows the return to be divided into components consistently. Indufor has also switched to using monthly data, which enables more accurate measurement.

As Finnish forests account for about 20% of the EU's timber market, the yield calculation can be considered indicative on a broader scale. In addition, the index provides information from the global international market, which buys more than 70% of the country's forest industry production.

 Founded in 1980, Indufor Oy (www.induforgroup.com) is a globally renowned expert in forest and natural resource issues with operations on five continents. The company has served more than 1,000 customers and has field experience from more than a hundred countries. The company's headquarters are located in Helsinki, Finland, and the company employs more than 60 people.