--- description: Ikea is buying up forests to keep tighter control over the wood it uses to produce its iconic, easy-to-assemble furniture. title: Here's Why Ikea Is Buying Entire Forests image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdcfb6bf6bbf1913/69885d5ccd1bbaddce6fc8a3/gettyimages-164899551.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Retail](/tag/retail/) ## Retail Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's Why Ikea Is Buying Entire Forests by [Benjamin Snyder / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Benjamin Snyder / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 31, 2015 5:19 PM CUT  A picture taken on March 27, 2013 shows the sign of Swedish furniture giant Ikea at the Odysseum shopping mall, in Montpellier, southern France. A picture taken on March 27, 2013 shows the sign of Swedish furniture giant Ikea at the Odysseum shopping mall, in Montpellier, southern France.Pascal Guyot—AFP/Getty Images by [Benjamin Snyder / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Benjamin Snyder / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 31, 2015 5:19 PM CUT Ikea is buying up forests to keep tighter control over the wood it uses to produce its iconic, easy-to-assemble furniture. The Swedish furniture company bought a Romanian forest earlier this month, _The Wall Street Journal_ [reports](http://www.wsj.com/articles/ikea-gets-deeper-into-the-woods-1438310691 "undefined"). The wood from the forest will be used to create products for a store in Bucharest. Ikea’s move comes as the company has been working to become more environmentally friendly. Earlier this year, Ikea was banned from cutting down trees in Russia, though the ban was lifted a month later. The company has also been trying to become more efficient while simultaneously expecting to sell more inventory than ever before. Per the _Journal_: --- > “” --- For more on Ikea, check out _Fortune’s_ [in-depth feature](http://fortune.com/ikea-world-domination/ "undefined") on the company’s transformation in recent years. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3980460/ikea-forests/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3980460/ikea-forests/"},"headline":"Here's Why Ikea Is Buying Entire Forests","datePublished":"2015-07-31T17:19:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:47:37.343Z","description":"It's the wood that makes it good","url":"https://time.com/3980460/ikea-forests/","keywords":["Retail","Ikea","pubdesk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdcfb6bf6bbf1913/69885d5ccd1bbaddce6fc8a3/gettyimages-164899551.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Benjamin Snyder / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdcfb6bf6bbf1913/69885d5ccd1bbaddce6fc8a3/gettyimages-164899551.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FRANCE-ECONOMY-SWEDEN-IKEA","caption":"FRANCE-ECONOMY-SWEDEN-IKEA","creditText":"Pascal Guyot—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/retail/","name":"Retail"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3980460/ikea-forests/","name":"Here's Why Ikea Is Buying Entire Forests"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: IKEA Recalls Millions Of Chests","description":"IKEA is recalling 27 million chests and dressers after two children were crushed and killed by IKEA MALM chests","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/i6baQ8EM/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-07-22T19:05:01.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/i6baQ8EM.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3980460/ikea-forests/","duration":"PT1M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3980460/ikea-forests/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```