Despite the considerable potential of the forest-based sector in Spain, there is still room for improvement. The sector represents 1.4% of GDP and, whilst annual growth of forests currently exceeds 45.6 million m³, the rate of logging is low: only 36.9% compared with the EU-27 average of 62.2%. The Spanish forest-based sector, including forest owners, forestry companies, the pulp and paper industry, and the wood processing and furniture industries, has an overall annual turnover of €16.717 million and employs 189,875 people in 29,623 companies (press release COSE, ASEMFO, ASPAPEL and CONFEMADERA, 2014).
