Log prices in Southern Germany and Austria until April 2021
© holzkurier.com
Holzkurier’s editorial team found that log prices are €3 to €5/m³ higher in April than they were in March.
In June 2020, log prices had reached the lowest level since Holzkurier’s records began in 2006. Since then, they have already recovered by around €28/m³, which brings them back above the average level recorded in Austria, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in the years from 2006 to 2021.
Around €10/m³ away from record prices
All softwood lumber products are going from one record price to the next. If this upward trend of the past months continues at this pace, it won’t be long before the log price passes the €100/m³-mark in some regions – and before it could reach a new record high.
Similar to Austria, harvest in small private forests was also very limited in Southern Germany due to prices, which led to a so-called “Bauernbuckel” (“farmer’s hump”, harvested wood which accumulated before the beginning of spring). Higher prices probably won’t be enough to motivate small private forest owners.
Slow recovery in Central Germany
The situation is completely different in the damaged wood hotspots in Central Germany where there has been little change in prices so far, with the exception that there are no more outliers, i.e. extremely low prices.
Entire trains loaded with log wood depart from Central Germany and are headed south. However, logistics are currently the bottleneck which prevents a real balancing out of quantities and prices in all of Germany. In general, it is assumed that log exports to China will decrease considerably in 2021 – even though Chinese importers accept marked price increases.
If supply continues to be a challenge in the south, forest owners in the main damaged wood hotspots should have better chances to raise prices after all.
Czech Republic exports
In light of another possibly bad beetle year, the Czech State Forests Lesy ČR are cautious when it comes to logging. Nonetheless, logging is underway in private forests and Austrian buyers report a constant flow of log wood from the neighboring country at prices which are slightly lower than the ones of Austrian log wood.
