The forestry industry is extremely important to the United States’ economy, employing approximately 953,000 people and accounting for an annual payroll income of over $53 billion.
The industry also intersects with many other critical industries, such as logging, wood product manufacturing, and housing construction.
If you’re an investor or professional in the industry, it’s important to study the top forestry companies and observe their reasons for success.
In this article, we’ll cover the 15 largest forestry companies in the world and provide you a closer look into their operations.
Oji Paper Company
Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan
Stock ticker: TYO: 3861
Market cap: $5.6 billion
2021 Revenue: $12.5 billion
Net income: $272 million
Oji Paper is Japan’s largest company in the forest, packaging, and paper industry.
The company leases over four million acres of forest land across countries including Australia, Canada, and Brazil. Their primary products are paper used for writing, printing, and packaging, as well as chemicals created as a byproduct during the manufacturing process of these goods.
All of Oji Paper’s forestry operations take place outside of Japan, while their actual manufacturing operations are all conducted in their 86 production facilities within the country.
The company employs over 27,000 workers across its 156 subsidiaries.
Stora Enso Oyj
Headquarters: Helsinki, Finland
Stock ticker: STEAV
Market cap: $7.4 billion
2021 Revenue: $12.0 billion
Net Income: $856 million
Stora Enso Oyj is one of the largest forestry and wood products companies in the world, formed through a merger between Finnish forestry company Enso Oyj and Swedish mining company Stora in 1998.
Stora is the oldest limited liability company in the world, with preserved physical shares dating back to as early as 1288.
After the merger, Stora Enso Oyj aggressively expanded its paper merchant and wood products business by acquiring industry giants such as Consolidated Papers.
To this end, the company also started establishing production facilities in Guangxi, China, where it continues to grow.
More recently in 2018, Stora Enso Oyj formed a joint venture called Combient with 23 other Swedish and Finnish companies to share research concerning deep learning, artificial intelligence, and big data.
The company currently owns tens of millions of acres of forest land across Sweden, Finland, and Russia, which it uses to manufacture and distribute paper and other wood products.
West Fraser Timber Co Ltd.
Headquarters: British Columbia, Canada
Stock ticker: WFG
Market cap: $5.62 billion
2021 Revenue: $10.518 billion
Net income: $104 million
West Fraser Timber is a forestry company that produces timber products such as plywood, pulp, and wood chips.
The company was founded by three brothers in 1955 and has since grown to become the largest lumber producer in all of North America.
West Fraser Timber employs 5,000 employees in Canada and 8,600 worldwide across 50 locations.
The company directly manages over eight and a half million hectares of forest land. In addition to using this land to manufacture its wood products, West Fraser Timber also leases portions of it out for research and recreational uses.
As of early 2021, the company’s board is currently fighting against a possible hostile takeover from the Canadian billionaire Jim Pattinson, who owns a 13.5% stake in the company as well as a 51% share of the other Canadian forestry giant Canfor.
Weyerhaeuser Company
Headquarters: Seattle Washington
Stock ticker: WY
2021 Revenue: $10.201 billion
Market cap: $8.9 billion
Net income: $582 million
Weyehaeuser is a forestry and wood products manufacturing company that operates three major business segments:
Timberlands. Weyehauser owns and manages over 12,400,000 acres of timberlands in the United States and 14,000,000 acres in Canada under long-term licenses.
Wood products. The company uses wood generated through its vast land holdings to manufacture and distribute products such as furniture and construction material for homes.
Energy and natural resources. Weyehaeuser generates revenue through the sale of surface and subsurface resources located on their forest land.
They also use by-products from their wood products manufacturing operations to create biofuels such as wood pellets.
Another large segment of Weyehaeuser’s operations until recently was its containerboard packaging and recycling business, which has since been sold to International Paper for $6 billion.
As a result of the deal, Weyehaeuser downsized 14,300 employees and now employs a total of 9,300 workers.
The company is also a real estate investment trust.
Universal Forest Products
Headquarters: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Stock ticker: UFPI
Market cap: $3.69 billion
2021 Revenue: $8.63 billion
Net income: $176 million
Universal Forest Products was founded in 1955 as a lumber wholesale company that specialized in growing and producing construction materials for the manufactured housing industry.
Although the company still sells pressure-treated lumber for use in housing construction, it no longer owns any raw land or sawmills.
Instead, they purchase solid-sawn lumber from other forestry companies and then manufacture it into a range of construction and home improvement products.
Universal Forest Products’ primary offerings include industrial packaging materials, residential construction lumber, and material handling products.
The company employs approximately 14,000 workers across the United States.
Masco
Headquarters: Livonia, Michigan
Stock ticker: MAS
Market cap: $14.64 billion
2021 Revenue: $8.375 billion
Net Income: $680 million
Masco is a forestry, construction, and home improvement conglomerate that operates 59 production facilities in the United States and an additional 20 facilities across the globe.
Compared with other forestry giants on this list, a much greater portion of Masco’s revenue comes from sales of its consumer products, rather than from raw materials it generates from its land holdings such as timber and wood pulp.
The company owns LifeStyle Furnishings International, the third-largest furniture manufacturer in the United States. It also owns other large players in the industry such as Henredon, Drexel Heritage, and Maitland-Smith.
Masco currently employs over 26,000 workers.
Klabin
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Stock ticker: KLBN3/KLBN4
Market cap: $5.4 billion
Revenue: $4.32 billion
Net income: $470 million
Klabin is the largest manufacturer of packaging paper and other common wood products in Brazil.
The company is entirely self-sufficient in wood due to its vast landholdings of 218,000 hectares of planted forests and over 180,000 hectares of woodlands.
Klabin operates 17 industrial plants across South America, which it uses to produce products such as corrugated boxes, packaging paper, and industrial sacks.
Many commend Klabin for its commitment to business operations that prioritize socioeconomic stability and environmental conservation.
This led the Forest Steward Council (FSC) to grant the company its first certification out of any forestry or wood product company located in the Southern Hemisphere.
Holmen AB
Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden
Stock ticker: HOLM A/B
Market cap: $7.82 billion
2021 Revenue: $2.22 billion
Net income: $460 million
Holmen AB is a major player in Sweden’s forest, pulp, and paper industries. The company owns three sawmills in Sweden, which it uses to produce goods such as construction and timber paper.
The company until recently owned an additional newsprint mill in Spain, but sold it in 2016 to International Paper.
Holmen AB also operates many other wood product manufacturing facilities to produce paperboard, printing paper, and sawn timber.
The company’s best-selling product is paperboard, which is used for graphical applications and consumer packaging.
Holmen AB is often commended for the relative environmental friendliness of its forestry and manufacturing processes, relative to the industry.
The company is currently ranked number 21 on the Global 100 Index, which is created by the World Economic Forum to track the planet’s most sustainable corporations.
Canfor Corporation
Headquarters: British Columbia, Canada
Stock ticker: CFP
Market cap: $109 billion
2021 Revenue: $2.188 billion
Net income: -$11.3 billion
Canfor is an integrated forestry and forest products company that produces engineered wood products, specialized wood products, and softwood lumber.
The company has annual production capabilities exceeding 5.9 billion board feet of lumber, 220,000 tons of BCTMP, and 1.1 million tons of northern softwood market kraft pulp.
Canfor owns three paper mills in Prince George and one in Taylor.
The company sources lumber from over 10 million acres of publicly-owned land that it leases through long-term replaceable tenure agreements with the government of Canada.
Canfor is also a member of the Forest Products Association of Canada and employs over 6,500 employees.
Tolko Industries Ltd.
Headquarters: British Columbia, Canada
Stock ticker: N/A
Market cap: N/A
Revenue: $1.79 billion
Net income: N/A
Tolko is one of the largest producers of sawn-wood in Canada, with annual production capabilities exceeding 2,800,000 cubic meters each year.
The privately-owned company also produces forest products such as plywood, oriented strand board, and veneer.
In 2018, the company formed a joint-partnership with Hunt Forest Products to build a $115 million lumber mill in Louisiana, marking its first expansion into the United States.
Although many commend Tolko for its sustainable forest management practices, the company has been far from immune to controversy. Currently, Tolko is fighting a blockade set by the Okanagan Indian Board regarding their operations in the Browns Creek watershed.
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation
Headquarters: Nashville, Tennessee
Stock ticker: LPX
Market cap: $1.7 billion
2021 Revenue: $1.377 Billion
Net income: $420 million
Louisiana-Pacific formed in 1972 when it spun off Georgia-Pacific due to a court-ordered monopoly breakup.
Although Georgia-Pacific retained most of its land holdings and tree farms, Louisiana-Pacific did acquire those used by the corporation’s Intermountain, Samoa, and Southern divisions.
This caused Louisiana-Pacific to struggle for years after its incorporation, due to a severe lack of raw materials.
The company rebounded due to innovations it made in the production process of oriented strand board (OSB) in the 1980s.
Louisiana-Pacific is currently the world’s largest producer of OSB, which it manufactures in its 24 sawmills spread across the United States, Brazil, and Canada.
The company also produces other lumber and engineered wood products that are frequently used in the home construction industry.
Duratex
Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil
Stock ticker: DTEX3
Market cap: $2.54 billion
Revenue: $1.2 billion
Net income: $340 million
Duratex is the largest producer of wood panels in the Southern Hemisphere and the eighth-largest in the world.
The company also manufactures other reconstituted wood products such as particle boards and super-density fiberboards through its ten industrial plants located across Minas Gerais, Rio Grade do Sul, and São Paulo.
Duratex is partially self-sufficient in terms of wood, owning approximately 209,000 hectares of planted forestland certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
The company employs 10,677 workers as of early 2021.
Sierra-Pacific Industries
Headquarters: Anderson, California
Stock ticker: N/A
Market cap: N/A
2021 Revenue: $830 million
Net income: $500 million
Sierra-Pacific is a privately-owned forestry company that produces raw lumber, reconstituted wood products, and home improvement products such as windows and doors.
The organization manages nearly 1.9 million acres of timberland in California, making it the largest private landowner in the entire state. It’s also the second-largest producer of lumber in the United States.
Sierra-Pacific manufactures its wood products with its ten sawmills and manufacturing facilities, all located in Washington and California.
In addition to the company’s manufacturing operations, it also generates revenue by leasing its land holdings for recreational activities.
Holzindustrie Schweighofer
Headquarters: Vienna, Austria
Stock ticker: N/A
Market cap: N/A
Revenue: $621 million
Net income: N/A
Holzindustrie Schweighofer is a family-owned business that operates in the forestry, bioenergy production, and wood products industries.
The company owns forest land in Czech Republic and Germany, which it uses to produce timber, packaging timber, and glue lam products. Their subsidiary company DABG engages in timber trading activities in North Africa and the Middle East.
Holzindustrie Schweighofer also owned forest land in Romania, until it was accused of unsustainable forestry practices near Retezat National Park and was forced to sell these land holdings to the Swedish GreenGold Group.
Another major business segment of the company is the production of bioenergy. Holzindustrie Schweighofer uses wood shavings, wood chips, and other by-products from its other operations to produce wood pellets that it sells as biofuel.
All of Holzindustrie Schweighofer’s bioenergy operations are conducted in Romania, where it owns four biomass power plants.
Georgia Pacific
Headquarters: Atlanta, Georgia
2021 Revenue: $160 million
Georgia Pacific is one of the most prolific sawn wood suppliers in the world, producing over 4,300,000 cubic meters each year.
The privately-owned company owns over nine million acres of forest land across the United States, which it uses to manufacture products such as wood pulp, tissues, and packaging materials.
Georgia Pacific also produces building products, paper towel dispensers, and various chemicals.
It sells many of its products under different brand names, well-known examples including Angel Soft, Brawny, and DensShield.
Georgia Pacific employs over 35,000 workers across approximately 180 locations spread through North America, South America, and Europe.
The company is a subsidiary of Koch Industries but operates and manages itself largely independently.
Georgia Pacific was taken off the NYSE after its acquisition by Koch Industries. Due to the company’s massive production capabilities and land holdings, however, their revenue is almost definitely enough to warrant a place on this list.
