Swedish Forest Society Doubts the Russian Wood Tariff Reduction

Swedish Forest Society's timber manager Magnus Juntikka is critical to the speculation about the lower Russian wood tariffs. - Very little show that the duties on raw timber will be lowered to 2 euros per cubic meter as we have read in the press. Rather, he believes the market price will be seven or eight euros for softwood pulpwood and timber and possibly hardwoods at two euros according to a pressrelease to Mynewsdesk.

It looks like most of the Russian timber is still very expensive for Swedish industry. But it is on the other hand, good for the Swedish forest owners.

- If the forest industry in Sweden not can import cheap timber at the margin they are forced to keep up the Swedish wood prices, according to Magnus Juntikka. This will benefit the forest owners in Sweden.

At moment there are signals of a tougher timber market. Both North Africa and the Middle East has slowed down, and reports continue to show weakness for the European construction market. After the financial crisis, the EU's construction has stabilized at a low level. Timber prices are falling - but from record levels.

Winter also means the off-season for timber products in Sweden. The Swedish market is an important market for many sawmills. Probably the seasonal timber market is weaker in winter and then take off in the spring.
But the harsh winter can contribute to a continued good market for timber owners.

- It seems to be a harsh winter again. And when sawmills are encouraging reduced production, it reduces the flow of chips to both plants and pulp mills, "said Magnus Juntikka.

Will there be problem with biofuel supply this winter? If there are problems with ice for shipping, then the pressure on the Swedish pulpwood will increase further, since more people want to burn pulpwood in the thermal power stations. - Pulpwood prices have already risen and we could see prices hikes, say Magnus Juntikka. So there are both powerful forces and counter forces in the wood market right now.
But for now, is a timber prices really good.