This affects timber construction companies, but also prefabricated house manufacturers, whose order books are now much fuller than they had been in previous years.
The announced price increases could not be implemented in February because some market participants made generous concessions, especially for large volumes. This is a development that many solid structural timber producers are unwilling and unable to go along with. “With the current raw material and production costs, price concessions are just not possible. On the contrary, prices need to be raised urgently,” is the consensus among producers. The base price for dry raw wood with a 6-by-8-cm cross-section still ranges from €320 to €330/m³, with Finnish suppliers in particular driving the price down.
While sales prices of around €400/m³ are being reported in isolated cases, most of the solid structural timber is sold at €405 to €430/m³, with a clear north-south gradient still evident. With winter drawing to a close, manufacturers expect a significant uptick in demand in March and, as a result, a stabilization or even an increase in solid structural timber prices.
