Global sawlog prices rise in 2010

Sawlog costs for many sawmills around the world went up during 2010, and the Global Sawlog Price Index reached the highest level in over two years in the 3Q/10, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly. . The biggest increases occurred in the US Northwest (+43%), Germany (+28%), Sweden (+24%) and Northwest Russia (22%).

Sawmills in North America, Latin America and Oceania generally have lower costs for wood raw-material than do sawmills in Europe and Japan. The lowest sawlog costs in 2010 were found in Western Canada, Chile and Northwest Russia, while Austria, Germany, Japan and China stand out as the high-cost countries of the world.

The biggest change over the past decade has occurred in Brazil. Ten years ago, sawmills in Brazil had by far the lowest log costs in the world, according to Wood Resource Quarterly. This has changed in recent years, with prices rising closer to the global average. Just in the past two years, log prices have gone up 23 percent in the country. Not all of the increase has been the result of the higher costs in the local Brazilian Real; some is due to the strengthening of the Brazilian currency against the US dollar.

Source: Wood Resources International LLC, http://www.woodprices.com/