AMERICAN LUMBER TRADE IN ITALY 725 



native timber without large imports from abroad, the Italian forests 

 will be utterly destroyed, especially the coniferous forests. And this 

 may very readily happen if with the resumption of utilization for civil 

 needs importation from abroad continues to be scarce and its cost high. 



Italy is thus face to face with the dilemma of either making deeper 

 inroads into her already depleted home supplies, or finding some cheap 

 sources of raw material abroad. All the indications are that Italy 

 will find, and is already finding, such sources of timber supply close 

 at home, chiefly around the Adriatic and Black Seas. 



First of all, the territories newly added to Italy are fairly well 

 wooded, particularly with coniferous forests, and their normal annual 

 production of wood is close to 640,000 cu. m. (160,000,000 board feet), 

 of which half a million is coniferous timber. The normal annual cut 

 for the difl:'erent newly added territories is about as follows : 



Annual cut, 

 cu. m. 



Trentino '. 268,028 



Alto Adige 267,595 



Goriziano 33,536 



Trieste • • • 545 



Istria 22,778 



Dalmatia 46,936 



Total 639,418* 



This is a considerable annual addition to the total timber production 

 of Italy, particularly as the increase is in the coniferous wood, which 

 is the scarcest. Still, with the additional territories the annual timber 

 consumption has also increased and the problem is only partially solved. 

 Some other sources of importation must be found and in larger quan- 

 tities than in the pre-war period, on account of the greater need of 

 industry and the necessity' of allowing the Italian forests to recuperate 

 after the heavy drain of the war. 



Before the war softwoods formed more tlian 80 per cent of the entire 

 import. About {>0 per cent of all the imported timber came as sawed 

 timber and about 10 per cent as rough, round, or hewn timber. About 

 75 per cent of the rough, round, or rough-hewn timber came from 

 Austria, the greater part of it by water or rail. The rest came by sea 

 from the other shore of the Adriatic. Eighty per cent of the sawed 

 timber came from Austria and about 1"<J per cent from the Unitetl 



♦About 160,000,000 board feet. 



