“Thanks to strengthened pulp markets, our operating results for the year improved significantly. Our operating results in the quarter benefited from a stronger US dollar and no planned maintenance downtime,” Juan Carlos Bueno, CEO of Mercer International, comments.
In the Solid Wood segment, fourth quarter sales increased by 6% year on year to US-$111.6 million (Q4 2023: US-$105.4 million). Higher lumber and biofuels sales were partially offset by lower revenues from the company’s other products, the press release goes on to state. In Germany, Mercer operates sawmills in Friesau and Torgau. The Solid Wood segment also includes glued timber production sites in North America.
Lumber sales increased by 23%, from US-$47.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 to US-$58.6 million in the same quarter of 2024. According to Mercer, this was primarily due to slightly higher prices in the US market, whereas prices in Europe remained stable. As for the first quarter of 2025, the company expects a moderate increase in lumber prices driven by higher European demand and limited supply in the US. The press release stresses that developments in US trade policy could impact demand and prices over the course of this year.
Thanks to growing demand in the US and Europe, the average sales price rose by US-$47 year on year to US-$474/Mfbm (€292/m³ at the current exchange rate). The US market accounted for around 45% of lumber sales and 38% of the US group’s sales volume in the fourth quarter of 2024. Most of the remaining lumber sales were generated in Europe.
Lumber sales volumes increased by 10% to 123.6 MMfbm (around 292,000 m³) in the fourth quarter of 2024, whereas lumber production remained stable at 114.7 MMfbm (271,000 m³). Raw material costs accounted for approximately 75% of Mercer’s lumber production costs (+18% year on year). For the first quarter of 2025, a further increase is expected due to continued tight supply of log wood. Raw material prices in the areas of industrial and pulpwood remained stable over the course of the past twelve months.
Sales of manufactured products (including CLT and glulam) decreased by 22% to US-$12.7 million, mainly due to lower sales volumes following the completion of large mass timber projects in the third quarter of 2024. In the mass timber segment, Mercer successfully completed two large-scale cross-laminated timber projects in the US. However, high interest rates in Europe and North America continue to slow short-term growth and demand for these products, the company emphasizes.
