Forestry companies report peak prices of €148/m³ ex forest road for cut-to-length spruce logs and full-length logs in North Rhine-Westphalia and of €145/m³ in Rhineland-Palatinate. When calculating back, prices paid by Belgian sawmills for standing timber reach €150/m³ ex forest road. A similar picture emerges when it comes to pine log wood. Record highs were also recorded in contracts concluded in late January and early February. The €100/m³-mark is a thing of the past. Prices for pine logs have peaked at just under €120/m³ ex forest road. €110/m³ are reported increasingly often. As a reminder: Just a few weeks ago, €95 to €100/m³ was still the peak price range.
Contract durations and price ranges
Many contracts’ duration extends into the third quarter, while some are valid until the end of the year. Most agreements that were reached before and shortly after the turn of the year have a duration of six months.
Due to the contract durations, wide price spans can be observed for spruce and pine log wood. For example, existing contracts still stipulate ex-forest-road prices of less than €130/m³ for spruce, and of well below €100/m³ for pine log wood.
Euro versus percent
The issue of discounts based on diameter class, which has been discussed several times already, continues to gain importance. After discounts had been reduced in the second half of 2025, sawmills attempted to achieve a percentage-based discount instead of the nominal one. Since today’s prices start from a higher base level, the discount of €7 to €8/m³ for L2a spruce compared to L2b spruce is proportionally lower than in the past, when the benchmark price was €80/m³.
The sawmills were unsuccessful in their attempt to implement this change. Instead of accommodating their customers, forestry companies are trying to abolish the price cap for L2b logs. In the future, prices are to be tiered up to grade L4.
Pallet wood and D-grade logs
Demand for small-diameter logs remains high. In addition to sawmills focused on standard lengths, companies specializing in pallet lumber are still seeking log wood. Furthermore, there is a trend towards 3-m-long pine logs. Up to €58/m³ ex forest road are paid for pallet wood. Other price increases can be attributed to the significantly higher prices for D-grade wood, which in many areas have exceeded €100/m³ ex forest road. While D-grade wood is driving prices up at the upper end of the scale, higher prices for industrial softwood logs are pushing from the lower end.
Douglas fir and larch
Peak prices for Douglas fir and larch are between €150 and €160/m³ ex forest road (B/C L2b). Some suppliers had demanded €170/m³, but did not achieve this price in most cases. The €150 to €160/m³ are being paid primarily by sawmills that previously focused on spruce. Some traditional companies specializing in Douglas fir and larch rejected contracts with this price level.
Ice and snow
Log inventories are low in many sawmills. Only a few sawmills reduced cutting. The available volumes of log wood were often insufficient for optimal production. In almost the entire northern half of Germany, log transport from forests was hampered or, in some places, impossible for several weeks due to icy forest roads. Harvesting and the transport of logs to storage places in forests continued in many areas.
