RIGA - Last year 10.75 million cubic meters of timber were logged in Latvia, down by 0.92 million cubic meters, or 7.8 percent, year-on-year, said Selva Sulce, an aide to the State Forestry Service's director general.
She said growth of prices on the timber market had failed to spark a steep increase in logging last year. Sulce said the tree-logging had decreased in particular in private forests, falling 9.5 percent from 2003 to 6.81 million cubic meters in 2004. Timber logged in private forests accounts for 63.3 percent of total logged timber.
In state-owned forests, tree-logging decreased less 's by 4.8 percent to 3.94 million cubic meters.
Head of the service's forest resources department, Arnis Muiznieks, said that the reduction could partly be due to weather conditions in late 2004, which were unfavorable for logging.
Forests take up 2.9 million hectares, or 45 percent, of Latvia's territory. The state manages 1.45 million hectares (49.9 percent) of forests, while the remaining 1.46 million hectares (50.1 percent) belong either to private owners or municipalities.
