2018 International Forest Industries IFI Aug Sept 2018 Digital | Page 11

LOGGING & BIOMASS NEWS
Forest industry market of Sweden is in full swing
Consumption of wood raw-material
by the Swedish forest industry
increased in 2017 and early 2018,
especially in the pulp sector, which
struggled to supply their mills
with wood fiber during the winter
months. As a result, log and wood
chip importation rose and domestic
prices for sawlogs and pulpwood
increased, according to the
Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ).
Softwood log imports were up over
25% during the first four months
of 2018 as compared to the same
period in 2017, and hardwood
pulplog imports were up over 70%
in the same period. There were also
three rare shipments of Eucalyptus
chips from Brazil and Uruguay to
Swedish ports during the winter
as supply of both domestic and
imported hardwood logs had
become tight.
Softwood log imports to
Sweden increased for the second
consecutive year in 2017 to 4.5
million m3, with Finland and
Estonia expanding their market
share the most. However, in the
4Q/17, import volumes fell to their
lowest levels in two years because
of weatherrelated struggles in
sourcing logs around the Baltic
Sea. When the weather improved in
early 2018, shipments of softwood
logs increased and 1Q/18 imports
from Finland and Estonia were up
88% and 42% respectively, from
the 1Q/17.
The biggest changes in supply
sourcing over the past five years
include a dramatic decline in
softwood logs being shipped from
Latvia to Sweden and a steady
increase in logs coming from
Norway to pulpmills in Central
Sweden. Log imports from Norway
to Sweden have increased from two
million m3 in 2013 to 2.5 million
m3 in 2017 and accounted for
56% of Sweden’s total log import
volume last year.
Average import prices for
pulplogs from Norway have
risen over 30% in the last year to
reach US$60/m3 in the 1Q/18, a
substantially steeper increase than
that seen for domestic pulplog
prices, reports the WRQ. Domestic
log prices in Sweden have been
on a steady upswing from the
4Q/16 to the 1Q/18 with prices for
sawlogs and pulplogs increasing by
16% and 19%, respectively.
During July, over 25,000
hectares of forests have been
destroyed by fires in Sweden.
Substantial restrictions in timber
harvests and reduced log deliveries
have resulted in declining log
inventories throughout the forest
industry. As a consequence, it is
likely that log imports will increase
during the second half of 2018.
The big boy
Biomass processor BA 965
JENZ GmbH Maschinen- und Fahrzeugbau
Wegholmer Str. 14 ∙ 32469 Petershagen ∙ Germany
+49 5704 / 94090 ∙ info @jenz.de ∙ www.jenz.de
International Forest Industries | AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2018 9