Mississippi

Ranking as one of the state’s top manufacturing industries, Mississippi’s forest products industry is a vital component of the state’s economy. The industry employs 44,000 workers with an annual payroll of $1.1 billion. Mississippi’s paper and wood manufacturing workforce represents 12.1 percent of the state’s total manufacturing workforce.

Approximately 62 percent of Mississippi is forested.

Mississippi’s Land Area (in thousands of acres)
Total Land Area: 30,025
Forests: 18,595
Forests as Percent of Total: 61.9%
Federal Lands: 1,774
National Forest System: 1,159

Timberland (in thousands of acres)
Government
    Federal: 1,526
    State: 311
    County & Municipal: 100
Forest Industry: 3,241
Other Private Nonindustrial: 13,411
Total Timberland: 18,589

Federal Land Set-Asides (in thousands of acres)
National Parks: 116
Reserved National Forest: 11
Fish & Wildlife Service: 224
Total: 351

Recycled Paper Consumption (in thousands of short tons): 2,241
also includes Alabama’s recycled paper consumption

Tree Planting (acres)
Federal: 6,398
State, County & Municipal 20,377
Forest Industry: 101,469
Farmer & Other Private: 243,188
Total: 371,432

Value of Industry Shipments (in thousands of dollars)
Wood Product Manufacturing: $3,335,469
Paper Manufacturing: $2,618,891

Capital Expenditures (in thousands of dollars)
Wood Product Manufacturing: $121,445
Paper Manufacturing: $105,137

Annual Production
Softwood Lumber (million board feet): 2,494
Hardwood Lumber (million board feet): 486
Structural Panels (million square feet): 1,992
Paper (thousands of short tons): 609
Paperboard (thousands of short tons): *
*withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual company

Timberland Ownership
Government: 10%
Forest Industry: 18%
Other Private Nonindustrial: 72%

Mississippi’s total softwood and hardwood inventory has more than doubled since 1953 despite increasing production of wood and paper products.

Employment
Forestry: 2,940
Lumber & Wood Products (includes logging): 32,354
Paper & Allied Products: 8,974