Nearly half of the Finnish forest industry’s wood purchases from private forests in August were trees that had been felled by storms.
An estimated 2 million m³ of storm timber was purchased out of a total of 4.8 million m³.
However, the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF) said storm damages were localised and would not have a substantial impact when viewed against the industry’s annual wood consumption.
The aggregate purchase volume for January-August was 16.8 million m³, more than quadruple the amount compared to a year ago and approaching the long-term average.
Stumpage prices decreased slightly from July, with log prices down 4-5%.
FFIF said demand for forest industry products strengthened, spurring production growth in the second quarter to almost pre-recession levels.
“Timber sales are now very lively and there’s demand for all kinds of timber,” FFIF said.
