world news - 02.04.2008
Pulpmills in Finland and Sweden increase pulpwood imports as domestic wood fiber costs rise
The
average conifer sawlog prices reached an all-time record of $130 per
cubic metre in the 4Q 07, almost 60% higher than just two years ago.
Pulpwood costs were also substantially higher than last year, with
conifer roundwood prices averaging almost $190/oven-dry metric ton
(odmt) in December. As
a result of the high cost and reduced imports from Russia, pulp
companies in the Nordic countries are increasingly exploring
opportunities to source their mills with wood fiber from Latin America
and North America. One pulpmill in Southern Sweden has recently started
to substitute maple chips from Eastern Canada for expensive beech wood
chips from Germany. A couple of pulpmills in Finland are importing
Eucalyptus chips from Latin America. One pulpmill in Norway is now
importing wood chips rather than roundwood from Uruguay. Over
the past six years, imports of softwood chips to Finland have increased
over 50% reaching about 1.4 million tons in 2007. Total chip imports to
the countries in Northern Europe in 2007 were just over 4 million tons.
In addition to imports of wood chips, forest companies also imported
about 22 million cubic metre of roundwood last year of which an
estimated 80% were consumed by the pulp sector. Over
the next few years, the Finnish forest industry is likely to go through
a number of changes including a decline in the consumption of wood
raw-material, higher reliance on domestic timber, reduced imports of
Russian logs and increased imports of roundwood and chips from Sweden,
the Baltic States and Latin America.
See also:
- — EU urges Russia to reconsider rise in export duties on timber
- — Illegal cuttings and the world market of wood
- — Russian timber protectionism
- — Forest education builds bridges in Balkans
- — European paper/forest products companies face continued decline in credit quality
