Forest products are any materials harvested from forested land, ranging from construction lumber to edible nuts, medicinal plants, and even biofuels. The category is far broader than most people realize. Global exports of wood and paper products alone reached $486 billion in 2024, with non-wood forest products adding another $25 billion on top of that. Worldwide, the forest sector employs roughly 33 million people across logging, wood manufacturing, and paper production.
How Forest Products Are Classified
The FAO and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe first published a standardized classification system for forest products in 1973, and it has been updated regularly since. The system divides forest products into two broad groups: wood products (timber and everything made from it) and non-wood forest products, sometimes called NTFPs. This distinction matters because it shapes how countries track trade, set conservation policy, and manage their forests. Within each group, products break down further by how they’re processed and what they’re used for.
Wood-Based Products
This is the category most people picture first. It starts with raw timber, which is processed into sawn lumber, plywood, and oriented strand board (OSB) for construction. Pulp and paper manufacturing is the other major branch, turning wood fiber into everything from cardboard packaging to printer paper. About 19.4 million people work in wood product manufacturing globally, with another 5.9 million in pulp and paper production.
Modern engineered wood products have expanded what’s possible with timber. Glued laminated timber, known as glulam, is made by bonding layers of wood together with moisture-resistant adhesives. Pound for pound, it’s stronger than steel, and it can span more than 500 feet in arched roof designs. You’ll find it in cathedral ceilings and large commercial buildings, but also hidden in everyday residential framing as floor beams, ridge beams, and garage door headers.
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is another engineered product gaining ground in multi-story construction, where it competes directly with concrete and steel. Other engineered options include laminated veneer lumber (LVL), parallel strand lumber, and I-joists, each designed for specific structural demands. These products let builders use smaller, faster-growing trees to achieve the performance once reserved for old-growth lumber.
Non-Wood Forest Products
Everything a forest produces besides timber falls into this group. The FAO organizes non-wood products by use: foliage and fruits, tannins, gums and resins, oils and extracts, fibers, and medicinal plants. Many of these are critical to rural livelihoods in tropical and arid regions.
Edible forest products include pine nuts, pistachios, figs, olives, tamarind fruit, and palm nuts. The foliage of certain trees provides vitamin-rich food, while other species supply raw materials for local industries like silk production. Maple syrup, wild mushrooms, and honey are familiar examples in North America.
Resins and gums have been traded for thousands of years. Frankincense and myrrh come from dry-zone tree species and are still harvested commercially. Conifer oleoresins yield turpentine and rosin, used in adhesives, paper sizing, and surface coatings. Other tree resins serve as fixatives in perfumes, protective coatings for oil paintings, and bases for spirit varnishes.
Tannins, extracted from bark and other plant parts, have both industrial and medicinal value. Their astringent properties make them useful in leather processing and in traditional treatments for skin conditions and digestive issues.
Medicines From the Forest
Forests are a significant source of pharmaceutical compounds. Researchers have identified at least 122 plant-derived compounds from 94 species that are used as drugs worldwide, and roughly 80% of those had a traditional medicinal use that matches their modern clinical application. Taxol, one of the most widely used cancer drugs, was originally derived from the Pacific yew tree. Camptothecin, another cancer-fighting compound, comes from a tree native to China. Tropical rainforest species have yielded HIV-inhibiting compounds, and desert shrubs have provided agents with blood-sugar-lowering properties. The connection between forest biodiversity and future drug discovery is one reason conservation has economic implications well beyond the timber trade.
Wood as an Energy Source
Wood fuel is one of the oldest forest products and remains significant today. In the United States, the densified biomass fuel industry produces compressed wood pellets, briquettes, and logs for both residential and industrial use. Wood pellets burn at about 80% efficiency with extremely low particulate emissions, making them competitive with fossil fuels for heating homes, schools, and commercial buildings.
Utility-grade wood pellets serve a different market, feeding large-scale boilers that generate electricity. These pellets carry certifications like ENplus (a European standard) or PFI to verify quality and sustainability. Compressed bricks and logs make up a smaller slice of the market, used mostly in residential fireplaces and stoves. Globally, wood fuel remains the primary energy source for cooking and heating in many developing countries.
New Materials From Wood Fiber
Wood cellulose is being engineered into materials that could replace plastics and synthetic textiles. Microbial nanocellulose is a biopolymer produced by bacteria that shares the chemical structure of plant cellulose but forms a nanofiber network with exceptional tensile strength and crystallinity of 80 to 90%. Researchers have used it to create compostable “bioleather” with flame-retardant properties and low environmental impact, even producing prototype sneakers dyed with plant and mineral pigments. The material degrades naturally in soil.
These nanocellulose biotextiles point toward potential replacements for cotton and petroleum-based synthetic fibers. Other wood-derived innovations include dissolving pulp for viscose and lyocell fabrics, lignin-based carbon fiber, and cellulose films that could substitute for plastic packaging.
Sustainability Certifications
Two major certification systems help consumers and businesses identify forest products from responsibly managed sources. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) both set standards for sustainable harvesting, but they differ in structure. FSC uses a single global standard adapted to local conditions, while PEFC endorses national certification programs that meet its benchmarks. If you’re buying lumber, paper, or furniture and want assurance that the wood was legally and sustainably harvested, look for one of these labels on the product or its packaging.