Forests cover about 6.8% of the land area and provide subsistence for families engaged in cork gathering, wood cutting, and other forestry occupations. Cork, the principal forest product, is grown on 300,000 hectares (741,000 acres) of state-owned cork oak forests. Production was about 93,000 tons in 1985, virtually all of it exported. Other commercial trees are evergreen oak, thuja, argan, and cedar. Esparto grass and vegetable fiber are other important forest products. Artificial plantings of more than 45,000 hectares (111,000 acres) of eucalyptus trees furnish the raw materials for a rapidly expanding cellulose textile industry. Production of roundwood in 2000 was 1,056,000 cu m (37 million cu ft), with 46% used as fuel wood. Trade in forest products that year amounted to $347.7 million in imports and $122.6 million in exports.
Reforestation has become a major goal of the government; the 1981–85 development plan proposed to reforest about 25,000 hectares (62,000 acres) annually; actual reforestation was about 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres) per year. Between 1984 and 1994, the area of forests and woodlands increased by an estimated 1,120,000 ha (2,767,000 acres).
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