It is increasingly true that wood resource and product markets are global. The latest evidence is the continuing growth in global log prices, which are clearly feeding into the higher sawnwood import prices being experienced in Australia. In Europe, especially Estonia, log prices have gone through the roof over the last year, and it just happens to be the case that Estonia is a major sawn softwood supplier to Australia.
In the second quarter of 2018, the average price of Estonian Baltic Pine Sawlogs was USD90.53/m3, up a very solid 29.3% on the second quarter of 2017. Observably, the experience was similar across all of the countries reporting, for most of the year, including the softening experienced in the most recent quarter.
To go straight to the dashboard and take a closer look at the data, click here.
The situation was similar for Spruce logs, mainly from the same countries, as the chart below shows. For the record, Spruce logs from Estonia were priced at an average USD92.71/m3 in the second quarter of 2018, up 32.5% on the prior corresponding period.
To go straight to the dashboard and take a closer look at the data, click here.
In the US, log prices were not necessarily higher in US dollar terms, as the chart below for the US South shows. However, considered in the light of an appreciate US dollar, these prices appear also to have fed into higher sawnwood prices in export markets. The chart shows prices were little changed from the second quarter of 2017, through to the second quarter of 2018, with changes averaging less than 1.0% over the period.
To go straight to the dashboard and take a closer look at the data, click here.
The situation was modestly different for northern American logs, with the chart below looking more like the European experience of the last two years, rather than the US South. Right down to the dip in the second quarter of 2018.
To go straight to the dashboard and take a closer look at the data, click here.
We can reasonably surmise that logs in the US South are distinguished from the other logs displayed in this series by one important factor – international trade. Logs in the US South are reported on a ‘delivered’ basis, with emphasis on domestic markets, not international trade.
Rising log prices are a pretty sure forward indicator of future sawnwood prices.
