In addition to employee compensation and $industry spent $138 billion on materials and parts, $5.1 billion on purchased electricity and $3.7 billion on purchased fuels in 2016.15 Many of these expenditures occurred in and benefited local communities. Contributions to GDP In 2016, the forest products industry contributed $89 billion to the total U.S. manufacturing Gross Domestic Product (GDP), of which the pulp and paper sector accounted for $59 billion and the wood products sector provided $30 billion.