Storm wood features heavily in Finnish log buying

Nearly half of the Finnish forest industry’s wood purchases from private forests in August were trees that had been felled by storms.

An estimated 2 million m³ of storm timber was purchased out of a total of 4.8 million m³.

However, the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF) said storm damages were localised and would not have a substantial impact when viewed against the industry’s annual wood consumption.

The aggregate purchase volume for January-August was 16.8 million m³, more than quadruple the amount compared to a year ago and approaching the long-term average.

Stumpage prices decreased slightly from July, with log prices down 4-5%.

FFIF said demand for forest industry products strengthened, spurring production growth in the second quarter to almost pre-recession levels.

“Timber sales are now very lively and there’s demand for all kinds of timber,” FFIF said.