Trade of energywood, 1st quarter 2015

• More than half of the energywood purchased in the first quarter of 2015 as raw material for forest chips was pruned stemwood. This was the most valuable type of energywood; the average price paid for it was EUR 25.0 per cubic metre in roadside sales and EUR 4.0 in stumpage sales.
• The price of pruned stems in roadside sales was one per cent lower than in the previous quarter and 7 per cent higher than in 2014 on average. In stumpage stales, the unit price decreased by 9 and 5 per cent respectively.
• Logging residues accounted for almost one third of energywood sales. The average price paid for it was EUR 3.1 per cubic metre in stumpage sales and EUR 15.5 in roadside sales. These prices were 10 and 5 per cent lower than in the previous quarter.
• The mild winter, poor demand for chips and accumulated stocks decreased the winter's energywood sales. Changes in the government subsidy system and the end of the application period for subsidies under the Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry in April decreased the stumpage sales of pruned and unpruned stems and increased roadside sales.

The recorded prices do not include government subsidy, which was received by a considerable portion of pruned and unpruned stems. The harvesting subsidy for energywood was EUR 7 per cubic metre, and the additional management subsidy per hectare for young thinning stands, for example, was approximately EUR 4–7 per cubic metre.