According to the data collected by the forest auction system in Latvia “E-silva”, at the end of June this year, the price of birch veneer blocks reached 137 euros per cubic meter.
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“E-silva” representatives note that the price of birch grows throughout the first half of 2022, including June, which was no exception. The average price of birch veneer blocks increased by one euro per cubic meter in June, while the average price of birch containers saw a serious price increase, reaching up to 110 euros per cubic meter, which is an increase of almost a fifth. The price of birch pulpwood rose by 24% in June.
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Hot heating issue
If the Central European countries rush to replace the missing Russian and insufficient liquefied natural gas (LNG) with coal, the Nordic countries are solving it with wood fuel.
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“I dare say that it is complete nonsense that we export wood chips en masse, leaving the local market to starve.
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In the short term, the fault lies more with the lack of understanding from the centralized heat supply that the rules of procurement tenders must be made in such a way that suppliers want to participate in them, and the price levels are completely different than in the previous heating season. The rules of most tenders are still the same as in the days when the widely available and cheap wood chips from Belarus outcompeted the local wood chip suppliers. At the moment, suppliers, aware that the theoretical demand and supply in the market for the next heating season are close to balance and there will be a demand for wood chips at any moment, are not ready to take on disproportionate obligations or are not shy about pricing the risks imposed by these obligations in their offer,” says Klaus.
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He also indicates that guidelines will be discussed with the heat production industry, which would help transactions and tenders to proceed more smoothly and more adequately to the existing situation.
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