T a b l e 33. Exports of Wood-wares (all kinds) from the most important
wood-exporting countries. Values in thousands of kronor.
Country Tear
1906
Year
1907
Year
1908
Yfflr
1909 .
Tear
1910
Annually
1906—10
Year
1911
Sweden........................... 236 465 244 484 217 474 212 784 264 736 235189 274138
Norway............................ 79 709 81858 75 311 73 512 79 490 77 976 78 059
Finland............................ .109 154 110 659 101 964 108 011 125 056 110 969 131458
R u s s i a .................................. .187776 206 360 213 064 242 579 264 250 222 806 271 851
Austria-Hungary . . . 253 006 273 065 233 634 225 289 245795 246 158 269180
ü. S. A.1 ........................ 257 670 310 894 304 074 253146 293 975 283 952 344 115
Canada1............................ 189165 183 070 166 571 199 638 193 980 186 485 172 756
1 For Canada and the U. S. A. the mercantile years given do not coincide with the ca-
lendar years.
grew rapidly. The timber industry was also greatly promoted by the growth
and development in Sweden of commercial companies, thanks to the law of 1848
regarding joint-stock companies, by which measure the co-operation of several
persons for the purpose of establishing large industrial enterprises was facilitated.
We may add to this the enormous improvements the means of communication
underwent. Formerly the shipping of Norrland timber was performed
principally by sailing vessels from that part of the country, which could make at
most only two trips a year to the ports of destination in England and France:
a voyage to the Mediterranean and back took a whole year. The freightpo
England might then amount to £ 4 7 a per standard. Since steamships have
begun to be used in the timber trade, and, consequently, the voyages altogether
have become more rapid, the cost of transport has considerably decreased. The
re-building of the Trollhatte Canal (1838—44) was a very great advantage to the
export via Gothenburg, and finally we only need to point out the revolution in
the transport system which has been brought about by the railways.
The saw-mills, when first established, had but little difficulty in getting their
necessary supply of timber. Although only the largest and soundest redwood
timber was' cut, and all unsound inferior timber and white wood, together with
no inconsiderable proportion of the top-logs were left, still it was not necessary
to penetrate far into the forest from the sea or the great rivers in order td feet
a sufficient amount of raw material. But, with the constantly increasing demand
from abroad and the increase in the number of steam saw-mills,; this
state of things soon changed. The easily accessible, heavy timber nearest to
the watercourses began to be exhausted, and it became necessary to select the
raw material from the upper courses of the rivers. At the same time it began
to pay to make use of both white wood and poorer red wood and timber of smaller
dimensions, which had hitherto been despised and left in. the forest.
For rather more than two decades from the founding of the first steam sawmills,
the saw-mill industry in Norrland continued, under the favourable conditions
to expand, and there poured in a regular stream of native and foreign speculators,
and of workmen from the southern part of the country. The workmen’s
wages now had risen to a very high standard, and the manner and habits of life
among the floating population of workmen were, too, in accord with that standard,
but, as long as the prices of timber continued to rise, everything ran smoothly.
In 1874, however, a turning-point was reached, the foreign market beginning to
fluctuate, and the prices, after having once more risen somewhat in 1877, sank
the next year at a breakneck speed. The average price of sawn timber in Sundsvail,
which, in 1874, was up to 170 kronor per,standard (4’672 cubic meters))
fell in 1879 to 76 kronor. A serious commercial crisis followed. In one respect,
however, it brought about a good result, by clearing the timber trade from a
considerable amount of unsound elements; from persons whose only purpose was
to make a fortune as rapidly and with as little work as possible, without the
slightest heed to the future stability of the industry or to the future of their
workmen. For the men of better character engaged in this industry, the hard
years brought with them many wholesome lessons; they learned to neutralize
the fall in prices by more carefully utilizing the standing timber, by employing
cheaper methods of work at the mills, by a more perfected working up of the
timber, and a more thorough utilization of the waste wood which had formerly
been considered worthless. The prices of timber have since then undergone many
fluctuations, but none so violent as those just mentioned. This matter will be
referred' to further on.
In order to illustrate the growth of the saw-mill industry, a few figures
may here be given. In 1821 (the same year that the first reduction of customs-
duties in England took place), Sweden had 3 633 saw-mills with an output of
267 000 dozen deals and boards, about 200 000 dozen of which were exported.
Forty years later, our country owned 59 steam saw-mills and 4 933 water or
wind saw-mills, and the export of deals and boards alone amounted to 1 478 000
dozen. After the lapse of fifteen years more, this export had been trebled again,
and the total export of all classes of rough timber rose to a value of upwards
of 100 million kronor, and at present the value of the total timber export
lias attained the figure of 300 million kronor (in 1912)..
As shown by Table 34, below, timber-goods play an extraordinarily
important role in the foreign trade of Sweden, as far as exports
are concerned.
T a b le 34. Sweden's Imports and Exports o f Timber (unwrought and
wrought).
Annually
Imports. Thousands of Kronor Exports. Thousands of Kronor In % of the whole
Unwrought
and hewn
Sawn and
more or
less
wrought1
Total
Unwrought
and hewn
Sawn and
more or
less
wrought1
Total Imports2 Exports*
1871—75 . . . 754 983 1 737 16 444 74 734 91178 0'71 44-58
1876-80 . . . 724 1248 1972 15 476 83 428 98904 0'73 4713
1881—85 Hi . 1486 1849 3335 15 573 94 393 109 966 105 4512
1886—90 . . . 1544 2193 3 737 14 955 101821 116 776 1-11 42-84
1891 -95 . . . 1929 2 624 4 553 16 933 119 786 136 719 1-80 42-96
1896-00. . . 3 601 1840 5441 18 339 161140 179479 m u 50-05
1901-05 . . . 2 747 2114 4861 19 475 180040 199 515 0-91 48-67
1906—10 . . . 7 658 2 766 10424 20 520 214 669 235189 1'62 45-63
1909 . . . . . 8043 2 439 10482 19 006 193 778 212 784 1-70 44-99
1910................ 12 438 2 686 15124 18 319 246 417 264 736 226 44-65
1911................ 11004 4 077 15 081 18 711 255 427 274138 2-16 41-31
1912 . . . . . . 12 748 6 303 19051 16 898 284435 301 333 2-43 39-62
1 In these figures there are included among the wrought goods both wood pulp and
matches. _ — 2 Imports and exports of wood-goods in % of the total imports and exports
of the kingdom, of all goods.
13—133179. Sweden. II.