Page 14 - FDMAsia JanFeb 2025

12 MARKET BEATS JAN/FEB 2025 FDM ASIA | www.fdmasia.com

European Timber Market receiving 5.3 million tons, or 37 percent of the total export.

In 2024, the export amounted to 2.2 million tons, with 43
Update percent mainly going to countries like Slovakia, the Czech

Republic, Sweden, Lithuania, and Estonia, and 40 percent

Poland's new timber sales regulations reduce foreign to Germany.
investment
According to polskieradio.pl, the new timber sales regulations, Prices for oak, sawn spruce timber and wood pellet on
effective in Poland from 2025 and set to remain in force the rise in Germany
through 2026, prioritise businesses that process wood locally. Between January and September 2024, exports of oak logs
These rules were introduced to limit the export of raw timber increased by 24 percent to 130,000 cubic metres compared
outside the European Union. to the same period in the previous year in Germany. At 84,000
Under the so-called geographic criterion, companies with cubic metres, 86 percent more was exported to China, the
processing plants located closer to the wood purchase site gain most important destination, than in the same period of the

an advantage, which reduces the profitability of transactions previous year, reported by Global Wood Trade Network.
for businesses outside Poland. In the first nine months of 2024, both producer prices for
As a result, the new regulations have reduced the sawn spruce timber and import prices for sawn softwood
attractiveness of Polish timber, particularly for businesses from timber rose by 15 percent and 7 percent respectively in
Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, as confirmed by Germany compared to January 2024.
representatives of the Polish State Forests. Besides, according to the German Pellet Institute (DEPI),
Although the regulations aim to support local industry, the the market price of wood pellets in December 2024 increased

additional restrictions on exports outside the EU have further by 2.5 percent compared to the previous months of October
diminished interest in Polish wood. and November 2024, reaching an average of €286.04 per
As reported by the Polish state news agency PAP, the tonne (purchased volume of 6 tonnes), but is still 13 percent
head of the State Forests, Witold Koss, announced that 38 lower than in the same period last year.
million cubic meters of timber will be available on the market ‘The wintry temperatures in many places combined with the
in 2025, a five percent decrease compared to 2024. upcoming public holidays have noticeably increased demand.
According to data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS), However, the price of pellets remains moderate,’ says DEPI
between 2019 and 2023, Poland exported 14.3 million tons of Managing Director Martin Bentele.
unprocessed timber, with Germany being the largest recipient, A kilowatt hour of heat from wood pellets currently costs

5.72 eurocents per kilowatt hour. The price advantage over
heating oil is 40 percent and 46 percent over natural gas.
sriramgroups.net 2024, real, calendar-adjusted new orders grew by 5.6 percent
For other aspects of the German timber market, in October

compared to the previous month. Growth affected building
construction and civil engineering equally in Germany.
The situation in the residential construction sector did not

deteriorate further in December 2024. The current business
situation is described as good by around 10 percent of