Uganda's forests are tropical in nature and most of the species are hardwood trees.
Besides protected areas like game parks, the major forests are Mabira, Budongo and Bugoma. Commercial forestry relies on high value hardwood trees. The most important species are Mvule, Mahogany, Musizi, Nongo, Nkoba and Nzigu.

Most of the exploitation of the forest reserves is at a subsistence level with the bulk of the wood being used for fuel as raw wood or as charcoal.
The industry employs very few people and its contribution to the country's economy is not very significant. It contributes only about 1.5% of the Gross Domestic Product every year.
Recently, some individuals and companies have taken particular interest in establishing huge commercial forests planted with improved and fast growing tree seedlings from forestry department nurseries.

Problems facing the industry:

· Lack of capital investment.
· High value tree species are not in one stand but are distributed throughout the forests. This makes them difficult to exploit.
· The process of felling trees destroys a lot of other vegetation in the forests.
· Wild animals make work in the forests a bit dangerous.
· The forests are usually inaccessible due to the poor road network.
· Deforestation due to a growing population's needs for wood as fuel and new farmland.
Currently, a lot of cheap timber is imported from the Democratic Republic of Congo to supply the local and export market.