Hardwood Pulp Manufacturers in Europe Have the Highest Wood Fiber Costs in the World Despite Price Declines the Past Six Years

The wood fiber costs for European hardwood pulp producers started to move upward in late 2017 after having trended downward for over six years, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly. Despite the long-term price decline for hardwood pulpwood, the continent's pulpmills still have some of the highest wood costs in the world.

Prices for softwood chips and pulplogs were also up in Sweden during 2017 because of an imbalance between domestic supply and demand. The higher domestic fiber prices resulted in an increase in importation of softwood chip to Sweden in 2017, which reached almost double the volume imported five years ago. In the last quarter of the year, imports reached the  second highest quarterly volume on record. 

Historically, most imported chips have been destined for the country's pulpmills, but over the past two years there has been an increase in imported chips to be used for energy. Latvia, Norway, Estonia and Finland, in ranking order, are the major suppliers of softwood chips, accounting for 95% of the total import volume in 2017. With a higher percentage of lower-cost energy chips over the past few years (predominantly from Norway), the average value for imported chips has declined by about 40% 2013 to 2017, according to the WRQ in its 4Q/17 issue. Of the four major supplying countries, Finland supplied the highest cost chips, while Norway was the lowest cost supplier in 2017. 

Global lumber, sawlog and pulpwood market reporting is included in the 56-page quarterly publication Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ). The report, which was established in 1988 and has subscribers in over 30 countries, tracks sawlog, pulpwood, wood chip, lumber and pellet prices, trade and market developments in most key regions around the world. To subscribe to the WRQ, please go to www.woodprices.com

Wood Resources International LLC
Hakan Ekstrom
info@woodprices.com
www.woodprices.com

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