Domestic wood processors fear the thaw following the new year freeze will continue to hamper access to log supplies as forest roads become impassable or placed off-limits.
Heavy rain and higher temperatures have caused a rapid thaw in the previously snowbound forests, especially in Scotland where supplies in places were severely disrupted.
Most sawmills in Scotland and northern England were counting roundwood stocks in days rather than weeks and the Forestry Commission offered to relocate production to more accessible sites to help increase supplies.
While there were reports this week of near normal operations at some sawmills, others said they were reviewing supplies on a day-by-day basis and some feared stocks could run out.
David Sulman, executive director of the UK Forest Products Association (UKFPA), said earlier this week that while there had been a significant thaw in the central belt of Scotland, elsewhere the picture was different.
“Roundwood is moving out of the forest, but at a much reduced level. Average supplies at the sawmills are three to five days, some are better and some have a couple of weeks, but they are the exception.’
“Although we can work on frozen forest roads, once the thaw starts the roads can become very fragile. Although we are all desperate for roundwood, we do not want to see roads damaged during the thaw as this will simply cause even greater problems later,” added UKFPA president Tony Mitchell.
James Donaldson Timber in Fife said operations were back to normal and supplies sufficient, although some drivers had reported problems on forest roads. Adam Wilson & Sons in Ayrshire said they were reviewing stocks on a daily basis and were concerned about road access.
“The first week back after the holiday was very difficult,” said James Cordiner, a director of Cordiner Sawmills in Banchory,
“There was a lot of snow and sub-zero temperatures, and frozen logs – that was the big problem. The sun is shining now and the logs are sawing better, but the difficulty will be getting access to the forest.”
