In the wake of the pellet hype
Pellet prices of now nearly 770 €/t in Germany and 570 €/t in Austria allow producers to pay new peak prices for chips. In turn, chip suppliers want to participate in the current price hype. In Austria, the price range at the end of the 3rd quarter is 22.5 to 27.5 €/m3. This means that the price has doubled in the past six months.
Warnings against exaggerated wishes
In Germany, sawdust almost reaches the 300 €/t bone dry mark. That would be the equivalent of 40 €/loose m3. The wishes of sawdust sellers are already heading towards 400 €/t bone dry (55 €/loose m3). Negotiations for the 4th quarter have now almost been finalized. Warnings that “trees do not grow to touch the sky“ are heard more often nowadays. So are the indications that the price potential will be exhausted soon. The range of fluctuation is enormous - that is the only sure thing that can be predicted at present.
Even at the current price level, there is probably no wood product that has experienced a similar price increase in such a short time as sawdust. The engineered wood industry in Germany has already partially switched at this point. In Austria, too, the proportion of sawmill residue is falling - in favor of pulpwood.
In the case of log wood, the price of sawdust is limiting the downward trend. Soon it could be profitable for pelletizers to also chop up log wood - despite the bark and the heartwood content ...
Will panel operations have to shut down?
The wood-based materials industry has many problems at the moment. In addition to more expensive purchasing, high energy costs and – in some cases – drastically reduced demand volumes are burdening the companies. It is no longer guaranteed that all production sites will run until the end of the year.
However, purchasing behavior is changing not only in the wood-based materials industry, but also in the paper industry. For example: Their purchasing company is now also buying complete batches of roundwood - i.e. including the logs. The reason: Due to the cutback of the sawmills in July, the wood chips are scarce.
Forestry accepts complete sale
As for the beetle wood in Upper Carinthia as well as processing the windthrow timber since August in Styria and in Carinthia, the "buy-it-all"-strategy is a suitable means to encourage forest owners to sell, according to members of the purchase community. For storm damaged timber, being flexible in cutting to meet length and quality categories facilitates the work. Customers estimate the accruing assortments before the harvest and pay between 140 to 210 €/t bone dry (delivered and measured with bark), one expert explains. There are really large quantities coming, the action is therefore extended.
Lenzing had already started a similar "buy-everything" campaign for hardwood in southern Germany where, according to general assessment, "currently no industrial hardwood" is being offered. It is therefore not surprising that Lenzing is said to have increased the proportion of spruce in production and reduced the proportion of beech.
Less demand for packaging paper
The fact that the production of magazine paper is being cut back is something we are used to. At present, however, the first companies in the packaging paper sector are already reacting in Austria – and are reducing production by 10 to 20%. Here, demand is also declining. Another novelty is that the production site in Bruck is currently not using wood for paper production.
The grinding process is currently too expensive, yet switching to 100% recovered paper is profitable. Between the Black Forest and Eastern Styria, around 98 to 108€/solid m3 is being paid for sawmill roundwood. Price levels have converged very strongly across the region. In the meantime, one could almost include the Czech roundwood market. There, the prices for sawn and industrial roundwood are said to be quite similar to those in Germany and Austria.
