Higher fibre furnish imports associate with more non-coniferous sawnwood imports
Comparing Sawnwood, non-coniferous — Import quantity with Total fibre furnish — Import value across 174 countries, 2023–2024.
- Rank correlation
- +0.67
- Holding size constant
- +0.52
- Countries compared
- 174
- Period
- 2023–2024
What might link these
Both indicators reflect industrial wood product demand, suggesting complementary trade patterns in wood-processing sectors. A careful reader should note that the residual correlation (0.52) may still be inflated by unmeasured factors like industrial capacity or trade agreements.
Why this is not proof of anything
This is a correlation across countries, not an experiment. It cannot show that either indicator causes the other, and both may simply follow a third thing. Correlation does not imply causation; omitted variables like construction activity or regional trade policies could drive both trends.
The second figure above repeats the measurement with national population and income held constant. It is the more conservative number: a relationship that largely disappears there was mostly telling you that larger, richer countries have more of most things.
How this was measured
Both indicators were ranked across every country reporting each, and the two rankings compared — ranks rather than raw values, because a handful of very large countries can otherwise manufacture a relationship on their own. The calculation is arithmetic over figures already published on this site; the commentary above is drafted from the two indicator names and the resulting coefficients.