May 19, 2009. /Lesprom Network/. French forestry industry is to get a massive boost worth Euro 100-150 million to safeguard up to 450 thousand jobs, as The Connexion informed Lesprom Network. Although the industry is the third largest in Europe it is amongst the least productive. France uses more than 10 million cubic metres of wood a year but imports almost all of it. Now President Sarkozy has announced a strategic fund which will boost an industry with revenues of Euro 40 billion a year and which directly employs 170 thousand. The move is based on funds already in place to help the aeronautical, automobile and soon, biotechnology industries. Forestry will also benefit from a change to the tax regulations regarding wood fuels, similar to the aid for wind energy. The industry, particularly in the south-west, has been hard hit since storm Klaus in January, which knocked down 685 thousand hectares of forest. Sarkozy's moves will help create new forests and also fund improvements to sawmills which have not been able to invest in new technology.