There is still no sign of a major correction in wood prices. Occasionally, forest owner associations report not only stable softwood prices in the first quarter of 2023, but even higher prices for spruce logs and especially for hardwood and energy wood. But the wood market cannot escape the economic and economic development either.

Despite the construction crisis and the economic crisis, wood prices have held up surprisingly well. The prices for hardwood, energy wood and firewood are even increasing. At least regionally. Nevertheless, the prospects for 2023 are not exactly exhilarating, because the timber market cannot escape the economic and economic development either.

And despite good price deals for the beginning of the year, things don’t look particularly good. Both the construction crisis and the economic prospects leave little scope for stable or even higher wood prices in the long term. However, the market is supported by the continuing strong demand for energy wood and firewood. This should support hardwood prices in particular or even drive them up further. At the same time, the price of the softwood used in the construction sector is likely to suffer as a result of the economic trend.

This is also shown by the development of timber prices on the world market, which have recently plummeted and have now fallen to the level before Corona. This also means that the export of construction timber to the USA or China, which is (partly) responsible for the high prices, is no longer possible or must take place at significantly lower prices. Of course, this arrives with a certain time lag in the relatively strongly export-oriented German wood market.

Prices for beech logs have also risen sharply. Even D-wood is often sold for 80 euros/m3, C-goods from the 5th strength class reach the 100-euro mark, it is said. The price for beech firewood, for example, is higher than that for beech industrial wood.

There is still no sign of a major correction in wood prices. Most recently, prices for softwood lumber have leveled out on average for the leading range of spruce A/C, 2b+ between 90 and 100 euros per cubic meter. The discount for beetle wood was between 25 and 30 euros. Spruce long timber B was mainly traded between 105 and 110 euros/m3. The prices for pine were also stable and were mostly between 70 and 72 euros per sm3 for 2b BC.

Many sawmills were also able to absorb the lumber prices, which had come under pressure, with the still very high prices for sawdust and wood pellets. However, pellet prices have also fallen since the end of October, but have consolidated again since mid-December.

Many forest owners were surprised by the development on the hardwood log market. Oak prices have gone through the roof since the fourth quarter, forest owner associations report. Prices for beech logs have also risen sharply. Even D-wood is often sold for 80 euros/m3, C-goods from the 5th strength class reach the 100-euro mark, it is said.

The price for beech firewood, for example, is higher than that for beech industrial wood. “Industrial beech wood, which normally goes to the pulp industry, actually no longer exists. That’s only possible in the firewood market,” says the managing director of the Hessian Forest Owners’ Association, Christian Raupach, to the Frankfurter Neue Presse. Demand and prices for colored hardwood have also increased recently.

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