Alcobaca, Leiria, Portugal, June 26, 2026 (Lusa) - The impact of Storm Kristin on the pine industry in Portugal is set to continue for a further two years, with the timber shortage affecting the sector, which has lost 50% of its annual raw material requirements, the Pinus Centre estimated on Friday.
The industry, which had already been affected by the fires of 2015 and 2017, “has suffered a further decline following Storm Kristin”.
“According to our calculations, it took away around two million cubic metres of timber, practically half the sector’s annual requirement,” João Gonçalves, president of Centro Pinus – an association for the enhancement of pine forests – told the Lusa news agency.
During a field visit to the Alva de Pataias forest area, in the district of Alcobaça, in central Portugal, the association today outlined management measures for the forest destroyed by the storm on 28 January, and highlighted the difficulties faced by more than 300 stakeholders – including producers and processors – linked to the pine forest.
“This sector is already facing a very serious shortage of supply,” said Nuno Gonçalves, estimating that the 50% drop in supply resulting from the storm “will, within a year or two, put 88% of jobs in the forestry sector at risk”, particularly in the country’s approximately 250 sawmills, which “will not be able to keep operating” due to the shortage of raw materials.
Exploring solutions to “mitigate the impact” was the aim of today’s visit, which brought together more than three dozen industry experts at a pine plantation sold by the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) to an industrial owner who, last week, cleared the trees blown down by the wind across 16 hectares of pine forest.
The timber “could have been stored in timber yards” and, in that case, could have “retained its quality for use in four or five years’ time”. However, João Gonçalves lamented that “only now, five months later, has the ministerial order for the temporary construction of timber yards been issued”, which prevented landowners from “minimising the value of the loss” in the region.
According to the official, “it will take at least one year” before the fallen trees can be managed.
“Operators are working as best they can, but there are no more operators [than those who were already operating before the storm] and the affected area is very large,” emphasised the association’s president.
Five months after the storm, he acknowledges that the only positive aspect is the fact that there are large quantities of pine cones, which will enable the natural reforestation of these pine forest areas.
The Pinus Centre, in collaboration with the ICNF, “has managed to harvest 10 tonnes of pine cones, equivalent to 300 kilograms of seed”, which is the figure “harvested on average in a year” which will enable natural reforestation of other pine forest areas across the country.
Pinus was established in 1998 to “promote the environmental, social and economic importance of the maritime pine in Portuguese forests”.
The non-profit association brings together the main stakeholders in the pine sector, including representatives from forestry production, service providers, industry, public administration, higher education and the financial sector.
DA/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
