산림경영의 수익성 개선을 위한 정책과제

Abstract

우리나라는 1970년대부터 열심히 나무를 심었고, 이로 인해 산림녹화에 성공한 나라로 인정받는다. 그때 심은 나무들은 자라서 지금 큰 숲을 이루었다. 산림자원은 점차 성숙하고 있으며, 머지않아 이를 수확하여 이용하는 시기가 도래할 것이다. 즉, 임업을 통한 산림관리가 가능할 것으로 전망된다. 이에 대비하여 산림경영의 인프라와 기반을 구축하는 것은 중요한 과제이다.

사유림은 산림의 67%를 차지하는데, 사유림을 잘 관리하는 것이 건강한 산림생태계를 보전하는 방법이다. 산주들이 산림을 관리하려면 무엇보다 수익성이 보장되어야 한다. 그러나 우리나라 산림경영의 수익성은 매우 낮다. 산림자원이 많음에도 경제자원으로 활용하지 못하기 때문이다. 그러나 산지가 험준하고 소규모 사유림이 많은 유럽과 일본에서는 활발한 산림경영을 실현하고 산림이 농산촌 경제의 중요한 요소가 된다.

이 연구는 우리나라 산림경영의 수익성을 분석하고 임업선진국과 비교하여 수익성 개선의 정책과제를 제시한 것이다. 보통의 여건에서 조림부터 수확·판매까지 발생하는 비용과 수입을 예상하고 수익성 개선을 위한 시뮬레이션을 실시하였다. 산림경영인의 경영 현황과 의식을 조사하여 수익성 개선에 필요한 사항을 조사하였다. 또, 우리나라 산림경영의 비용과 수익 구조를 임업선진국과 비교하여 수익성 개선을 위한 정책과제를 밝혔다.

Backgrounds of Research Forests, forestry, and wood industries occupy an important position in the establishment of a sustainable society. Healthy forest management is to construct a resource-circulating structure of forest management, which means planting, growing, harvesting, and replanting trees. What matters is the profitability of forest management. The objective of this research is to find obstacles to improving the profitability of forest management and suggest some policy tasks to tackle the issue.

Method of Research Based on the collection of the cost and income data of forests, the land expectation value (LEV) was calculated, which could be used as the basis of profitability analysis of forestry. The market value formula was applied to appraise stumpage value. Based on this, changes in profitability were analyzed by simulating the elements of forest management. With this result, differences in various factors of forest management were identified by comparing with other analysis results in foreign countries. A survey was conducted to identify the management status and awareness of forest managers. 300 forest owners who make a living by forestry and own forest more than 10 hectares were surveyed. The status of forest management and supporting systems of foreign countries were examined. Cases of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Japan, where there are rugged terrain and a number of small-scale forest owners, were investigated.

Research Results and Implications Forest growing stock in Korea grew to 146㎥/ha, and 25.4 percent of the forest area is over 40 years old. In the near future, it will be able to manage forests through forestry. As for forest ownership, owners who own forest smaller than 10 hectares account for 96.8 percent of all ownerships, and 54.5 percent of landowners are absent forest owners. While there are 90,510 forestry households, the number of forestry households that engage in wood production is fewer than that of forestry households that engage in crop (non-timber forest products) cultivation. The forest road density necessary for forest management is only 3.1m/ha. The forest treatment is mainly dependent on manpower, and labor cost is increasing gradually. Since the price of timber is affected by the international market, the price cannot rise independently. It is important to promote forest management in terms of the sustainability of forest management, although surrounding conditions in and out of the country are not friendly to forest management. We analyzed the profitability of Korea’s forest management. If trees are harvested and sold at the current cutting age, stumpage price is estimated at about 4.5 million won per hectare in case of larch. If government subsidies do not support the excess of the cost of afforestation and silviculture, there would be no profit. The cost of forest management is very high in silviculture and logging. Cost reduction is a challenging issue in Korea. Furthermore, the profitability of forest management is very low when the discount rate is applied, considering 30- to 50-year span from afforestation to harvest. A simulation of factors was conducted to check the change of profitability. The criterion for profitability is the land expectation value. Since forest management takes a long time, the profitability is improved when the interest rate is lowered. The effect of extension of rotation period differs according to the price of wood. When a large volume of timber is able to receive high price, the extension of the rotation period improves the profitability. Producing high quality timber also improves profitability. Moreover, reducing costs by introducing natural regeneration improves profitability. Forest farming has the greatest impact on profitability. Agroforestry can supplement low profitability of wood producing forestry. Compared to Austria and Japan, the cost of logging operation is higher in Korea. This is because the logging operation is highly dependent on manpower and mechanization is insufficient. The labor productivity of logging is 3.7 cubic meters per man day which is lower than that of Germany and Japan. In comparison with cost and income of German small-scale forestry, the cost of regeneration and thinning is higher in Korea. This is based on the forest resource, infrastructure, and forest management style. Most forest management focuses on short-term non-timber forest products. The proportion of forest farming reaches 88.4 percent, accounting for 87.5 percent of their income. Thus, the purpose of forest management is to do forest farming rather than wood production. Moreover, prices of forest trees are lower than expected prices. For pine trees, the current stumpage price is 336.8 million won per hectare, but the expected price is 547.6 million won per hectare. In terms of policies to increase profits of forest management, “easing forest regulations” (66.7 percent) is the most preferred policy. While the government is easing regulations on forest management, forest owners believe that there are still many restrictions. For the government's policy to succeed forest management after owners’ retirement, a direct payment system is found to be urgently needed. Cases of forest management in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Japan, where forestry is highly competitive, were reviewed. The major advanced countries are striving to promote forestry and wood industries. This is because it is effective in revitalizing rural areas and creating jobs. These countries invest in the forest management infrastructure and invigorate forestry and the wood industry by linking the industries together. Forest managers in Europe mainly use selective cutting and natural regeneration as forest management methods. This is because they cannot cover the cost of planting due to low price of wood. Germany's “Close-to-Nature Forest Management” and Switzerland's “Near-Natural Silviculture” reflect this situation. To improve forest management structure that consists of small-forest owners, the owners organize cooperatives for forest management and timber sales. The order of priority of policies for forest management is construction of forest roads, education, and subsidy. In particular, forest roads have been regarded as a basic infrastructure of forestry management and a contributory factor to timber production costs. From this perspective, forest roads have received intensive investment and expanded, thus leading to high competitiveness in forestry. On the other hand, Japan has a problem that the number of abandoning regeneration is increasing due to deteriorating profitability, which is similar to Korea's situation. In order to improve profitability, forestry managers strive to promote timber demand, invent high value-added products, and cut forest treatment costs. In Japan, “the project for new distribution and processing system” and the “feed-in tariff scheme” have succeeded in increasing the rate of domestic timber usage. To reduce the cost of logging, the introduction of high-performance machinery, the integration of forest management, distribution efficiency, loan and taxation benefits are implemented, and subsidy to reduce reforestation cost and the technique to plant container saplings are adopted. With forest resources matured, it is expected that forests will be available in the near future. In response, it is necessary to establish the basis for cyclic forestry and the foundation of profitable forestry. Policy tasks to improve the profitability of forest management can be divided into domestic wood demand creation, high value added, cost reduction, and establishment of supporting systems. First of all, policies are needed to create domestic wood demand and increase value-added. It is needed to produce high quality wood and strengthen connections in forestry. Forestry-wood industry clusters are one example. The public sector should take the initiative to create demand for domestic wood. Efforts should be made to create new demand for domestic wood and enhance value of the wood by developing new products such as cross laminated timber. Cost reduction is needed. It is necessary to develop a technology for natural regeneration to save the cost of reforestation and silviculture. Mechanization is needed to reduce the logging cost. It is also necessary to relieve financial burden by subsidizing the forestry interest rate. The forest management supporting system must be established. Budgets should be invested to build forestry infrastructures, including forest roads. The public direct payment system should be considered to support income of forest owners. By organizing the forest owners, it is required to increase the competitiveness of the market and expand the scale of forest management. Building forest information systems should be implemented to streamline distribution. Supporting agroforestry would complement low profitability of wood producing forestry.

Researchers: Min Kyungtaek, Seok Hyundeok and Choi Junyoung Research period: 2017. 1. ~ 2017. 10. E-mail address: minkt@krei.re.kr