Madras Agric. J., 105 (1-3): 84-86, March 2018 *Corresponding author’s email: sriim95@gmail.com Demand and Supply Analysis of Roundwood in India M. Srinivasan 1* , S. Varadha Raj 2 and A. Eswari 3 1 Department of Agricultural Economics Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 641 003 2&3 Department of Social Sciences, Horticulture College & Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Periyakulam - 625 604 The paper attempts to analyze the trend in production, consumption, import and export of roundwood and its demand and supply gap. The results revealed that positive trend was observed in production, consumption and import. Higher growth rate was observed in import (0.10) and consumption (0.09) which creates a gap between demand and supply. The consumption, production plus import of roundwood and demand and supply gap will be 116.31 MCUM, 70.79 MCUM and 22.44 MCUM respectively in 2025. Lagged demand, GDP per capita and population are positively signifcant on demand and forest cover decides the supply for roundwood. The gap between demand and supply of roundwood can be bridged by utilizing the substitute products and less utilized species for timber purpose. Key words: Roundwood, Demand and Supply. Forests are the most remarkable natural resource which plays an important role in the economic prosperity and ecological stability of the country. In India, forest and tree cover was 7,08,273 Sq.km in 2017 which is 21.54% of the geographic area of the country with the productivity of 0.5 - 0.7 m 3 /ha which is lower than the global average of 2.1 m 3 ha -1 during 2016 - 17 (FSI 2017). Per capita availability of forests in India was 0.06 ha in 2016 which is much lower than the world average of 0.64 ha. Timber products are environmentally superior to other variants made from metals, plastics, and cement as these are recyclable, energy efcient and reduce greenhouse gases. Nowadays, forests of the country are shrinking under acute socioeconomic pressure and the foresters are at the crossroads leading to the low availability of wood source for the commercial usage. (Shikha, 2017) stated that India is one of the top producers of tropical logs among International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) member countries, but it faces a severe shortage of timber supply from domestic sources to meet its growing demand. (Pandey et al., 2008) estimated that more than 50% of total Indian wood supply comes from non-forest sources indicating the wood and composite panel industries face raw material shortages.(Maharaj, 2004) report stated that regardless of signifcant gains from plantations, India is likely to face the severe shortage of timber supply from both domestic and international sources. In the absence of the efective measure for increasing the domestic production, the country heavily depends on its imports. (Carle et al., 2002) stated that the forest plantations provide a critical substitute for the raw material supply from natural forests, including industrial round wood and frewood. (ITTO report 2017) revealed that the prices for imported hardwoods remain unchanged. Domestic demand for imported sawn wood continues to decrease and there was growing substitution of hardwoods for imported plantation teak. This paper aims to analyze the trend in production, consumption, import and export, demand and supply gap of roundwood and also to identify the determinants of roundwood demand and supply. Material and Methods Design of study The secondary data on production, consumption, export and import of timbers were collected from ITTO for the period of 2000 -2016. Forest cover data were collected from the state of forest reports published by Forest Survey of India (Ministry of Environment & Forests). Data on GDP per capita were collected from the World Bank report and the wholesale price index of wood and wood product was collected from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI). Tools of analysis Growth rate Compound Growth Rate (CGR) was used to measure the annual growth rate of production, consumption, import and export of roundwood using the formula Y t = ab t . The logarithmic form of the equation is Ln Y=ln a + t ln b. The percent CGR is derived using the formula CGR = [Antilog (b)-1] *100. Where, Y t = Production or consumption or import or export, a = Intercept, b = Regression coefcient of t, t = Time variable. The value of b is computed by using the OLS method. Further, the value of CGR was worked out by using the equation (1). CGR = (antilog b - 1) x 100 ..........................(1)