Latvia exported 2.3% more forest products, the country's top export commodity, in the first 11 months of last year in financial terms at current prices than the year before, for a total value of €3.136 billion, the Forestry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture has announced.

Imports of these goods into Latvia fell by 3.4% to €929.5 million in the comparable period.

Wood and wood products accounted for 88.3% of total exports and 55% of imports. Exports increased by 4.3% and imports by 4.1%. Paper, paperboard and related products accounted for 34.8 per cent of imports, while purchases fell by 0.8 per cent.

Exports of raw wood grew by 20.2 per cent, sawnwood by 12.1 per cent and firewood by 1.7 per cent, while imports fell by 3.1 per cent, 6.2 per cent and 13.4 per cent, respectively.

The main export markets for Latvian forest products were the United Kingdom (20 per cent of total exports), Sweden (11.6 per cent) and Estonia (7.6 per cent), while the largest imports of forest products came from Lithuania (24.4 per cent of total imports), Poland (13.8 per cent), and Estonia (12.9 per cent).

Compared to the same period last year, imports from Lithuania decreased by 1.3 per cent.

In 2023, Latvia's exports of forest products in financial terms at current prices fell by 22.2 per cent, imports by 28.4 per cent, and exports by 3.2 times imports.

Forests cover just over half of Latvia's territory.