Industry News Markets
Global sawlog on upward trend

Dec. 3, 2014 - Global trade of softwood logs is up about nine per cent during the first nine months of the year compared to the same nine month period in 2013, according to excerpts from the Wood Resource Quarterly (www.woodprices.com).

Sawlog prices, however, were lower in the third quarter in most of the 20 regions the quarterly includes in its Global Sawlog Price Index (GSPI). This index has fallen by 4.6 per cent since the second quarter to $85.56/m3. The region that saw the greatest decline was in the Nordic countries and Eastern Europe. The index was on a high with three consecutive quarters of increases and had reached a three-year high in the second quarter of this year.

The Softwood Fiber Price Index (SFPI) has remained steady over the past two years, fluctuating between $98-100/odmt. Sawmill residuals were the source of greatest change in Western U.S., Western Canada, Germany and Brazil.

Lumber markets peaked in North America in late summer to trend downward during the fall with prices five to 15 per cent below August prices. Yet despite the decline, the RL Lumber Price Index has been consistently high this year, at levels that had not been seen in over a decade.

China's softwood lumber imports have climbed by five per cent during the first nine months of this year with an upward trend in prices that were close to record highs in the third quarter. 

For more information, go to www.woodprices.com.

December 3, 2014  By  Amie Silverwood