Traditionally a hardwood sawmiller, AJ Charlton installed new machinery to process softwood logs for its fencing and gate production facility 18 months ago.
This processing resource and secure log supplies, said the company, meant that the company had been able to maintain output even though, as sales and marketing director Michael Charlton acknowledged, “conditions for softwood fencing producers in the UK have certainly been challenging” .
“Demand from overseas in the last six months has caused sawn timber prices to rise by around 50%, leaving some sawmills without stock. Fortunately we have been able to maintain our supply and now have a full order book until September.”
He added that the softwood plant was producing the equivalent of 15 articulated lorry-loads of fencing and 1,000 gates per week and would be able to maintain output at this level.
Wendy Baker, chief executive of the Fencing Contractors Association, told TTJ that the shortage was easing, but warned that the industry was “not out of the woods yet”.
