Despite full production and manufacturing records in March, Swedish sawmills currently have their lowest stock levels for over 20 years, which has put pressure on sawn wood prices. Demand for wood products remains high, but their supply is limited. Source: Timberbiz
“Demand is growing, and so are the prices on the global markets. The wood industry is used to handling sizeable price fluctuations, but the situation at the moment is unusual. On the other hand, looking at the price trend for wood over a longer timeframe, growth has been quite modest. We may be heading for a situation where wood reaches a fairer market value,” said Christian Nielsen, market analyst for the industry organisations’ Swedish Wood and the Swedish Forest Industries Federation.
Swedish sawmills have been able to keep production going during the pandemic. However, increasing demand for wood products globally has seen stocks at the Swedish sawmills run down, leading to the lowest stock levels for over 20 years.
Production is continuing at full throttle and March became the best production month ever for the Swedish sawmill industry.
The global shortage of wood products is mainly due to lower production in other parts of the world. Several wood product manufacturers that usually have high output, temporarily scaled back their activity in 2020, leading to a major shortfall in the international market. We are continuing to see the consequences of this imbalance.
“The global shortage of wood products is an undeniable fact, but the Swedish sawmills are still working as hard as they can to meet the existing demand. Their strength shown by largely maintaining deliveries during the critical months when the pandemic struck with full force last year. I am convinced that our members are fully focused right now on delivering wood products to their customers,” said Mathias Fridholm, Director of Swedish Wood.
