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Report2022Open access

Trade and production of plants and plant products in Sweden : a knowledge base for pest risk analysis – Update 2022

Widenfalk, Olof; Jakobsson, Maria; Hammarström, Anton; Widenfalk, Lina; Josefsson, Jonas; Keith, Samuel; Vanduijn, Beren; Björklund, Niklas; Boberg, Johanna

Abstract

This report summarises the quantity of plants and plant-related products that are traded into Sweden, which serve as pathways of entry for plant pests. Furthermore, the economic value of plants and plant products is presented in terms of production value as well as the value of trade from Sweden.

In total, the volume of plants and plant material traded into Sweden was on average nearly 13 million tons per year. Of this, by far the largest part was various types of wood products, 11.3 million tons, followed by fruit and other types of plant based food, 0.7 million tons. Propagation material for different production systems was in terms of weight a small proportion of the total amount of traded plant goods into Sweden, reaching only about 43 thousand tons, it is however a rather large source of the living plant material traded. For example, an annual average of 49 million seedlings of forest trees were traded into Sweden each year.

The volume of plants and plant material traded from Sweden totaled more than 9 million tons, with an annual yearly value of over 30 billion SEK. Hence, the trade from the country was less than into the country. The trade both into and from Sweden was dominated by wood products, with a yearly average of 11.2 and 8.2 million tons respectively.

The total annual economic value of plants and plant products produced in Sweden was 57 billion SEK, which was 1.7 times the value of the trade of plants and plant products from Sweden. A great majority of the production value is associated with forest trees, 29 billion SEK, and arable plants, 22 billion SEK.

The economic value of vegetables and ornamentals and other plants produced in horticulture was approximately 2.5 billion SEK each. The estimated annual value of park- and street trees in Swedish cities, based on the cost of replacing them after 80 years, was 1.3 billion SEK. Fruits and berries constitute a minor part of plants and plant products produced, 966 million SEK.

In conclusion the amounts of trade as wells as the economic value of plants and plant products quantified in this survey provides valuable information for determining pest specific risks for introduction as well as the potential impact if a species becomes established. The compilation of data also provides support for identifying potential pathways for plant pests.

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Publisher: Greensway AB; SLU Risk Assessment of Plant Pests