Volumes and prices in roundwood trade, 5/2023

The volume of timber trade was the highest ever recorded in May. For the entire early part of the year, 26 per cent more timber was purchased than the average for the previous five years.

Prices of all timber assortments rose. Average prices for pulpwood rose to a record high of around EUR 27–30 in standing sales and EUR 46–47 per cubic metre in delivery sales.

Timber prices

In standing sales, the average price paid for spruce logs in May was EUR 78.8 and for pine logs EUR 75.1 per cubic metre. Prices rose by 2 per cent in real terms from April and by 5–7 per cent compared to the whole of last year.
For pulpwood, the average standing sale price rose by 6–8 per cent from the previous month and by 30–38 per cent from the whole of last year. The biggest increase was for birch. The average price of spruce rose to EUR 29.9, birch to 28.3 and pine to EUR 27.4 per cubic metre.
Standing sale prices for pulpwood were at a record high. The real price of pine pulpwood was the highest ever in the monthly statistics, which began in 1995. The last time the average price was higher was in 2008 for spruce and 1995 for birch.
In delivery sales, pulpwood prices rose by 3–6 per cent from April. Average prices for the whole of last year were exceeded by 20–23 per cent.
The last time pulpwood roadside prices were this high was in 2008.

Average timber prices and their real changes in private forests, May 2023
	May 2023	Compared to the previous month	Compared to the previous year as a whole
	€/m3	%	%
Standing sales
Pine logs	75,05	2	7
Spruce logs	78,82	2	5
Birch logs	58,54	2	15
Pine pulpwood	27,38	7	32
Spruce pulpwood	29,86	6	30
Birch pulpwood	28,29	8	38
Delivery sales
Pine pulpwood	46,26	4	23
Spruce pulpwood	47,18	3	20
Birch pulpwood	47,21	6	21

Trade volumes

In May, 6.8 million cubic metres of industrial roundwood purchased from private forests were recorded in the statistics. This was the highest volume ever recorded in May and 53 per cent higher than the average for the previous five years.
In January–May, timber trade was 66 per cent higher than a year ago and 26 per cent higher than the average for the previous five years. Compared to the previous five years, trade in logs is up 33 per cent and trade in pulpwood is up 20 per cent.

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 May 2023, the annual increase in consumer prices was around seven 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.