Kentucky has one of the most diverse hardwood species mix in the nation. 
There are 11.9 million acres of forestland in Kentucky – about 47 percent of the land is forested. 
Eighty-nine percent of Kentucky's forestland is privately owned.  


The Kentucky Division of forestry inspects commercial timber harvest operations statewide to ensure that loggers are complying with the Kentucky Forest Conservation Act. 
Forest landowners work with state agencies on timber harvesting methods to protect streams and wetlands and to improve habitat for big game, birds, fish and other wildlife. 
There are more than 3,500 forest industries in the state. These industries employ more than 30,000 Kentuckians. 
More than $4.5 billion of revenue is generated annually from the primary and secondary wood industries. 
Kentucky ranks 2nd  nationally in hardwood production. The top three species of lumber produced are white oak, yellow poplar and red oak. 
 

European companies in the timber sector include 3B SpA (Italy), Carl Goetz GmbH (Germany) or Chene Cie.(France) and SCA AB (Sweden).
 
 The wood working, furniture and related product manufacturing industries have a significant presence in the state of Kentucky.  
As of December 2006, there were 300 such facilities in the Commonwealth employing 22,000 people. They produce everything from transports pallets to solid wood tables and chairs to plastic and solid steel furniture.  Most of the facilities are small operations employing less than thirty people but the ten largest facilities employ 3,438, which represent nearly forty-seven percent (47%) of all the industry’s employees in Kentucky. The majority of these facilities (174) and employees (3,210) were employed in the Household and Institutional Furniture and Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturing industries with an average wage of $29,000 (2004).

In 2005, Kentucky had a total Gross State Product (GSP) of $140.4 billion and the Furniture and Related Products Manufacturing industry produced $324 million of that amount. The state can expect that number to grow as its export market continues to grow.  Kentucky’s exports of these products have grown significantly over the last few years.  In 2005, Kentucky was the 11th largest furniture related products producing state in the nation and the 6th largest among its competitor states.

 


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