Last year, timber sales got off to a stronger start than in previous years. The pace of trading picked up as summer approached and peaked in May. After a quiet summer holiday season, sales gathered pace again and were steadier than usual for the rest of the year. Thus, the storms in December did not substantially increase timber trade volumes.
In 2013, timber sales volumes were 18% higher than in 2012. Log procurement volumes increased 26% and pulpwood volumes 12% compared to the previous year. Industry procurements amounted to a total of 15.1 million cubic metres of log and 17.1 million cubic metres of pulpwood. The stumpage prices of softwoods log increased 3-4% on average, birch log prices fell 1% while pine and birch pulpwood prices went up 1-2%. Spruce pulpwood prices remained unchanged.
In December 2013, pine log fetched on average Euro 55 per cubic metre, but prices varied between Euro 45 and Euro 58 depending on the region and logging method. The average price of spruce log was Euro 56 per cubic metre but ranged between Euro 46 and Euro 58. The average price of birch log was Euro 40 per cubic metre with prices varying between Euro 29 and Euro 43. The average stumpage price of pine and birch pulpwood was Euro 16 while spruce pulpwood fetched on average Euro 17 per cubic metre. Pulpwood prices varied between Euro 13 and Euro 19.
Delivery contracts in 2013 accounted for a total of 5 million cubic metres of timber and their share fell from 18% of total timber sales in 2012 to 15% in 2013. About three quarters of delivery contract procurements were pulpwood. In delivery contracts, forest owners deliver timber to the side of the road.
Finland cannot afford to not make the most of its forests. Its growing stock almost doubles every year compared to logging volumes, and as much as a quarter of sustainable logging opportunities go unused each year.
“The problem is that a great deal of Finland’s forest is not in the sphere of market activity and forests are left unmanaged. The short supply keeps costs high, weakens investment conditions that are based on domestic wood, and does not support the growth of the national economy. The functioning of the timber markets must be improved with structural reforms that revive the forest economy, and tax solutions are a key element in this respect,” says Forests Director Tomi Salo of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation.