Jan 18, 2011. /Lesprom Network/. Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF) member companies purchased 33.2 million cubic metres of wood from private forests in 2010. The amount doubled from 2009 and bounced back to the long-term average, as the FFIF said in a press release received by Lesprom Network. The stumpage prices of some timber grades increased substantially. The total felling yield indicates that the purchases of all buyers from private forests came to some 45 million cubic metres in 2010. Timber sales got off to a sluggish start at the beginning of 2010, but livened up considerably as summer approached. The storms experienced towards the end of summer contributed to the increase in sales, especially in the worst affected areas. The closure of a temporary tax break also boosted supply as the year neared its end. The year was a good one for timber harvesters, as the dry summer and normal winter weather facilitated harvesting operations. Pulpwood and log purchase volumes both doubled from 2009, with log procurements rising to 14 million cubic metres and pulpwood purchases to 18 million cubic metres. Last year, the average stumpage prices of softwood logs rose 17–18%, birch logs 9%, pine and birch pulpwood 11–15% and spruce pulpwood 2%. In December, pine logs fetched on average Euro 52, spruce logs Euro 53 and birch logs Euro 39 per cubic metre. The average stumpage price of pine and birch pulpwood was Euro 16 per cubic metre, while spruce pulpwood cost Euro 18 per cubic metre. Purchases for delivery, i.e. sales in which the forest owner takes care of felling and delivers the timber to a designated pick-up point, accounted for 17% of all timber sales; this figure is down from 21% in 2009. The total volume of these sales was 5.5 million cubic metres, 2 million cubic metres more than in the previous year. Three-quarters of these purchases targeted pulpwood batches.