Natural disasters could affect the global wood products trade in 2005, according to industry newsletter Random Lengths.
The publication raised the possibility following recent severe storms in Scandinavia and the Baltic states, plus earlier windstorms and hurricanes in central Europe, the Caribbean and Florida in the second half of 2004, and the tsunami in South Asia.
Northern Europe’s January 8 storms, which felled an estimated 80 million m3 of timber in southern Sweden, could begin to impact log supplies in the spring.
Industry observers have speculated that European log prices could decline as growing volumes of salvaged timber becomes available. And buyers in Japan and the UK may not purchase blue-stained timber, possibly creating a sales shift to other markets, such as the US and North Africa.
Shorter lengths could also be plentiful due to many of the trees being snapped 10-12ft above ground.
