Global timber market review #12-2015

– Gradual EU economy revival combined with the global economy upward trend will encourage the growth of demand for the Finnish forest sector products, such a conclusion was reached by the Natural Resources Institute of Finland (Luke). Luke predicts onward euro weakening against the US dollar due to the hardening of the American monetary policy by the US central bank planned for this autumn. Remedial and construction works in Finland are expected to follow the upward trend as well.

– The price of wood pellets in Germany has slightly declined in June, Fordaq reported.

– After three consecutive months of price decline, the price of ENplusA1 pellets in Austria increased slightly in June.

– China will push forward its Natural Forest Protection Program and phase out all commercial logging of natural forests by 2017. Zhang Jianglong, deputy director of China’s State Forestry Administration, said that a logging ban is already active in some of the country’s key areas, especially in three north-eastern provinces. The Chinese official said that the ban will be extended to all state-owned forests next year, and logging on privately owned land will be ceased by the end of 2017.

– Setra has decided to invest in technology at the Färila sawmill in order to further strengthen competitiveness. The Swedish sawmill machine manufacturer AriVislanda will supply new sawmill equipment with a control system from RemaSawco. The machinery will go into operation in stages during the autumn and the sawmill is expected to return to its present production level by the end of November.

– After the erosion in prices for northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp has come to a halt in May, producers believe that the robust market will lead to higher prices in June, EUWID Paper reported.

More detailed review of global market trends of roundwood, lumber, wood panels and pellets as well as news of the Russian timber industry; exclusive articles and interviews; over 25 pages of price charts are available in our digital Russian Timber Journal.