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Reported losses in the financial year 2020: BaySF directors Kröninger and Neft, state minister Kaniber and BaySF chairman Neumeyer (from left to right) © Robert Kittel

bavaria

Bavarian State Forests report losses for the first time

Article by Robert Kittel (translated by Eva Guzely) | 19.10.2020 - 10:41

Minister Kaniber lauded the efficient beetle monitoring in the Bavarian State Forests (BaySF): “Around 200,000 hours working hours have been spent on monitoring.” This effort is rewarded with “smaller volumes of damaged wood and the smallest bark beetle population since 2017”. According to Kaniber, this makes Bavaria an example for other states. Regular logging decreased but the market undoubtedly remains “under high pressure” due to the accumulation of damaged wood.

This year’s operating result was much less positive. “For the first time in the company’s 15-year history, € 36 million of losses were recorded.” Despite this negative result, Kaniber reaffirmed the commitment to the reforestation strategy whose goal is to plant around 30 million trees by 2024. Kaniber explained that additionally around 10% of the Bavarian State Forests are to be declared natural forests.

According to BaySF chairman Martin Neumeyer, the company is in the “most difficult phase since its foundation. In consultation with the owner, the Free State of Bavaria, and the board of directors, we took the necessary consolidation measures, such as expense management and limited borrowing in the current financial year.” In the financial year 2020, 5.12 million m³, including damaged wood, were harvested (2019: 4.34 million m³). “This is still less than the annual growth. We use less than we could”, explains Neumeyer and adds that of the overall volume only 4.1 million m³ were sold.

“Nonetheless, we won’t give up a single square meter of state forest,” says Neumeyer. “Once the market has calmed down, we definitely want to become the number one softwood supplier again.” After all, the volume of damaged wood decreased. “The bark beetle situation has improved slightly. This year, we had 30% less damaged wood.” Therefore, Neumeyer sees an improvement of the situation: “The demand for fresh softwood is increasing again, however, the prices are not rising yet.” According to him, repercussions of the corona pandemic are not really reflected in the operating result, which current developments confirm: “The sawmill industry is doing much better in this crisis than people feared initially.”