Volumes and prices in roundwood trade, 1/2024

Wood trade picked up in January. The volume of industrial timber purchases was 7% higher than a year earlier and exceeded the average for January of the previous five years by 3%. Compared to the previous five years, trade in logs increased by seven percent, driven by pine logs.

Average prices for all types of timber rose in the standing sales. Compared to December, the increase was at most 2%.

Timber prices

• In January, the average price paid for spruce logs in standing sales was EUR 72.2 per cubic metre, and the average price for pine logs was EUR 68.8. Prices rose slightly from December and ended up 3% below last year's average prices in real terms.
• The average price of birch logs was EUR 59.9. This was 1% higher than a month earlier and three percent more than the average for the whole of 2023.
• In standing sales of pulpwood, the average price was EUR 27.5 for spruce, EUR 26.1 for birch and EUR 25.6 for pine. Prices were on a par with last year's average, rising by between 1 and 2 % from December.
• In delivery sales, average prices for all pulpwood were just over EUR 47 per cubic metre. The average price of spruce fell by four per cent, with smaller price changes for other species.

Average timber prices and their real changes, January 2024

Trade volumes

• In January, 7% more industrial roundwood was purchased from private forests than a year earlier. The volume was 3% higher than the average for the previous five years.
• Compared to the previous five years, trade in logs grew by 7%, driven by pine logs. Trade in pulpwood remained at the level of previous years.

Background information on the statistics

Unit prices in roundwood trade are recorded in the statistical database at the fair prices valid each time. However, price changes are examined in the texts and graphs in real terms by eliminating the change in value using the cost-of-living index. In January 2024, the annual increase in consumer prices was around three per cent.

The recorded prices are based on prices entered in wood trade agreements between the buyers and sellers. Any other increments and services related to wood trade are not included in the statistics.

Wood trade data for statistics are provided by the largest buyers of wood and forest management associations. As the information is not rounded up to correspond to the total non-industrial private wood trade in Finland, the published wood volumes only represent about 90 per cent of the wood purchased by forest industries from non-industrial private forests.