The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has about 145 million hectares of natural forests. This is equal to 10% of the world’s tropical forests and about 47% of those in Africa. Of this forest cover, 9.6 million hectares are subject to industrial concessions, but only a small part is logged. This means that the harvesting rate is less than 5% of the allowed harvesting amount allocated to these concessions.

Timber export volumes have been declining over the past few years to around 200,000 m3 per year. The European market remains relatively significant but is decreasing, covering less than half of reported export volumes. China, India and Middle Eastern markets show strong growth in the total share of export volumes.