Wood trade has picked up further as the autumn has progressed. After a calmer period at the beginning of the year, more wood has been coming onto the market, and demand for wood also remains strong. In January–October, Metsä Group managed to purchase wood to meet the needs of mills, and we estimate that wood trade will also continue to be strong for the rest of the year.
For forest owners, the market is currently offering many interesting opportunities. The average prices of pulpwood have remained stable, while log prices are even at historically high levels in many places. In particular, demand for spruce and birch logs is high, which is also reflected in their price and the wood trade earnings from final felling sites. When planning to sell wood, you should also consider the future income from your forest and carry out thinning on time – especially given the income from thinning operations in advanced stands may come as a pleasant surprise in these times.
We are also still buying felling sites for the coming winter’s harvesting needs. In Southern and Central Finland especially, the price level for final felling sites to be harvested in the winter is exceptionally high, and there is still purchasing quota left. If you have mature forest but are unsure about the bearing capacity of the soil or roads, now is the time to contact your forest specialist. We also buy winter thinning sites in connection with felling sites.
There is particularly strong demand for FSC®-certified wood. We are aiming to double our procurement of FSC wood from private forests by 2028 and pay forest owners a significant additional price for each cubic metre of FSC-certified pulpwood and log wood. For Metsä Group’s contract customers, joining FSC certification is straightforward and free of charge.
When you sell wood, it is also a good time to assess the need for forest management work. Forest management work can be paid for using bonuses accrued from wood sales or forest management work, advance payments from wood sales, or from wood sales income after harvesting. In September, we launched a new pricing model for young stand management work, in which we give the forest owner a binding offer for carrying out management work on their young stands – and the agreed price holds even if the work takes longer than initially estimated.
It is also worth asking our forest specialists about member benefits. For the rest of the year, we are offering valuable additional benefits to both our new and existing owner-members.