Book excerpt: This is the 55th edition of the yearbook which contains data for all countries and territories of the world relating to the production and trade in forest products the years 1997-2001, and on the direction of trade in 2000 and 2001. The data is based primarily on information provided by individual countries through questionnaires or official publications, and in the absence of official data, FAO estimates are given. The tables are arranged in three parts: data on the countries which are major producers, consumers and traders of forest products in 2001; the main tables showing volume of production, consumption and trade as well as total and unit trade values by country and type of product; and data on bilateral trade for major product categories.