Finnish wood purchases down

Finnish forest industry wood purchases from private forests were down 15% in April compared to the previous month.

The Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF) said less than one million m³ of wood was bought last month.

The aggregate volume of purchases concluded in the early part of the year was just 3.7 million m³, which is “not enough to satisfy the industry's wood needs”, according to FFIF.

FFIF said demand for wood was strong, while harvesting of felling sites purchased last year was running at normal volumes and these were, for now, providing sufficient quantities of wood to keep mills running.

“All timber grades are selling well, but sites that can be harvested in summer are in particular demand,” it said.

The January-April aggregate purchase volume was down almost a quarter from the corresponding period of 2010 and represented only about half of the long-term average purchase amount.??

Sawlog procurements came to 1.3 million m³ – almost a third less than in the corresponding period of the previous year.

??Average softwood sawlog stumpage prices were up 3-4% from March and the average price of birch sawlogs increased 2%. On average, pine sawlogs fetched €55 and spruce sawlogs €56 per m³, while the average price of birch sawlogs was €42 per m³. ??

“If domestic timber supply does not increase sufficiently, wood will have to be imported to keep mills running,” said FFIF.