Finland saw a significant increase in timber prices in March, reports the Finnish National Institute of Natural Resources (Luke). Prices for sawlogs, including spruce and pine, rose 3%, and prices for wood for pulp rose 4% to 6%, depending on the type.
Softwood lumber prices are up nearly three percent from February. The cost of spruce sawlogs averaged 75.1 euros per m3, and pine sawlogs were slightly less - 72.1 euros per m3. These figures are slightly below last year's average, approximately €62.0 per m3 for birch sawlogs, representing a slight increase of 1% compared to the previous month.
Prices for wood for pulp also increased significantly: spruce sold at an average of 30.1 euros per m3, and birch and pine for about 28 euros per m3. These prices rose 4% to 6% from February and were 8% to 11% higher than the previous year's average.
Timber sales volumes in the first quarter were down 8% from a year earlier, but remained 3% above the five-year average. Industrial trade in roundwood from private forests fell 25% in March compared with the same month last year and was below the five-year average of 4%.
Overall, from January to March, total roundwood felling was 18.1 million m3, down 3% from the previous year and slightly below the last five years' average for those months. In particular, the volumes of sawlog felling amounted to 2.6 million m3, and for cellulose - 3.8 million m3, with an annual decrease in the volume of roundwood felling from private forests by 5%.
