Seeds and Plants Crossing Boarders
A complete account of import of plants and seeds could not be acquired, but available numbers are in the following presented in table form. Additional details, such as country of origin, are described in the text were such information was available.
Top photo: Erling Fløistad/NIBIO.
Plant Import
Apart from the national production of seedlings, there has also been a market for imported material, mainly of Norway spruce (Picea abies), between the Nordic countries as well as from Germany and the Baltics (Figure 40). The amount of imported plants varies among years and countries and may constitute a significant proportion of the total number of planted seedlings.
For instance, in Sweden the import of plants varied between 35 and 53 million plants per year in the period 2009-2015, which is roughly 10 to 15 percent of the annual number of plants used. Imported plants are sometimes produced with seeds from the country which receive the plants. In those cases, there is no import of foreign genetic material. For example, out of the 2 350 000 plants of Picea abies imported in Norway in 2021, 750 000 were of Norwegian origin produced in Sweden. Iceland does not import seedlings due to plant health risk issues.
Species/Country | Denmark | Finland | Iceland | Norway | Sweden |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abies spp. | 0 | 0 | 51 | ||
Larix spp. | 0 | 0 | 2870 | ||
Picea abies | 0 | 0 | 2350 | 39100 | |
Pinus contorta | 0 | 0 | |||
Pinus sylvestris | 0 | 0 | 800 | 8904 | |
Other conifers | 0 | 0 | 280 | ||
Betula spp. | 0 | 0 | |||
Fagus sylvatica | 0 | 0 | |||
Populus spp. | 0 | 0 | |||
Quercus spp. | 0 | 0 | |||
Other broadleaves | 0 | 0 | 1137 |
Table 2
Plant import in 2021. Empty cells means that data were not available. Numbers in 1000 plants.
Growing of pine (Pinus sylvestris) seedlings.
Seed Import
Seeds on the other hand are subject to some import in all the Nordic countries, and Iceland imports, or has imported, seed of many exotic tree species, the most important of which are Pinus contorta, Larix spp., Picea glauca, Picea sitchensis, Picea abies, Pinus sylvestris, Alnus spp., Betula pendula and Abies lasiocarpa. Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris are important species whose seeds are subject to import/export among Nordic countries, but also species of for instance Larix and Quercus have been traded.
Denmark does not keep statistics of import from EU-countries, but has in 2021 imported seeds from Georgia (Abies spp.), USA (other conifers and other broadleaves) and Turkey (other conifers). In 2021 Finland imported seeds mainly from Sweden (Picea abies, Pinus sylvestris, Betula spp.), but also from Denmark (Larix spp.) and Estonia (Picea abies). The Icelandic import in 2021 came from Finland (Larix spp.) and Sweden (Pinus contorta).
Species/Country | Denmark | Finland | Iceland | Norway | Sweden |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abies spp. | 7985 | 0 | 6,5 | ||
Larix spp. | 0,32 | 5 | |||
Picea abies | 73,62 | 10 | |||
Pinus contorta | 0 | 4 | |||
Pinus sylvestris | 27,25 | 74,58 | |||
Other conifers | 275,5 | 0,35 | |||
Betula spp. | 2,09 | ||||
Fagus sylvatica | 0 | ||||
Populus spp. | 0 | ||||
Quercus spp. | 0 | ||||
Other broadleaves | 5,8 | 0 |
Table 3
Seed import in 2021. Empty cells means that data were not available. Numbers in kg seed. Number for Denmark does not include import from EU member states. Numbers for Finland include only import from EU member states.
Seed of birch (Betula verrucosa masurica). Photo: Dan Aamlid/NIBIO.
