Mozambique: Government raises timber harvesting quota to 555,000 cubic metres this year

For 2025, the government approved a timber harvesting quota of 485,936 m³, while the 2024 quota was 485,436 m³. The Mozambican government approved yesterday a quota of 555,000 cubic metres (m³) for timber harvesting this year across all provinces of the country, an increase compared with limits set in previous years. The resolution approving the annual harvesting quota was adopted at the Council of Ministers meeting on Tuesday, with Cabinet spokesperson Inocêncio Impissa explaining that the volume of timber to be harvested is defined by species classes for each Mozambican province.

“The annual timber harvesting quota represents the volume per species that can be sustainably harvested each year and is defined based on data from the 2018 National Forest Inventory,” which estimated a total potential ranging from 1.6 million to 2.1 million m³ of all commercial timber species, Impissa recalled. For 2025, the government approved a quota of 485,936 m³, 20 % of which was allocated to Cabo Delgado, while the previous year’s quota was 485,436 m³. Impissa noted that the Forestry Law regulations establish the need to set annual forest harvesting quotas for domestic consumption and export, specifying that the law determines the period between 1 and 31 March as a forest ban, during which the harvesting of timber products is prohibited.

In December, Lusa reported that Mozambique loses US$500 million annually due to “unsustainable” practices in the forestry sector, such as illegal logging and slash-and-burn agriculture, according to estimates by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Deforestation in Mozambique affected 875,453 hectares between 2019 and 2022, hitting especially the provinces of Niassa and Zambézia, according to a report by the National Institute of Statistics, which noted that in 2022 deforestation – across various forest types – fell by 31% compared with the previous year, to 209,464 hectares. The peak of deforestation was recorded in 2021, with 303,689 hectares affected, including 264,999 hectares of tropical forest, 29,258 hectares of semi-evergreen forest, and 99 hectares of mangrove, among others.