Volumes and prices in roundwood trade, 5/2021

• Trade of roundwood in non-industrial private forests was very active in May. The prices of all timber assortments kept growing and the standing sale prices exceeded the record prices of 2018.
• In May, 5.6 million solid cubic metres of wood were recorded in the wood trade statistics and, according to statistics, higher wood trade volumes have only been recorded in 2018. The amount of industrial roundwood purchased during the first half of the year rose by a third year-on-year and was eight per cent higher than the average for the previous three years. Compared to the previous three years, the trade in logs increased by 26 per cent, while the trade in pulpwood decreased by seven per cent.
• Pine logs fetched an average of EUR 64.6, and spruce logs EUR 68.2 per cubic metre in standing sales in May. The real price level of logs grew by four per cent from April and was 11 per cent higher than last year’s average standing sales price.
• The standing sale price was EUR 19.5 per cubic metre for pine pulpwood, EUR 21.8 for spruce pulpwood and 18.5 for birch pulpwood. The average price of pulpwood grew by three per cent from the previous month and by five per cent from last year.
• In May, the standing sale prices for softwood logs rose by three per cent from the second half of the top year 2018. For pulpwood, the corresponding growth was six to seven per cent.
• In roadside transactions, the average unit price for pine pulpwood was EUR 32.3, for spruce pulpwood EUR 33.9, and for birch pulpwood EUR 32.7 per cubic metre. The roadside prices of all timber assortments also grew from April. The roadside price of spruce logs has increased more than the price of other timber assortments.

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 just over 90 per cent of the wood purchased by forest industries from non-industrial private forests.