Wood is in short supply, especially for construction.
The prices change almost daily - a difficult situation for companies and customers, which also has to do with the consequences of corona overseas.
District
- planning security? For Peter Schlecht nothing more than a wish. “The market has been going crazy for months,” emphasizes the timber dealer from Seefeld. Whichever supplier he is currently asking for a price for the cut boards and beams - the answer is different for all of them every day. “You never know what to expect,” says Schlecht. The fluctuations have meanwhile assumed such a dynamic that Seefeld also has to forego a price list until further notice. That means: his customers have to ask separately for each order. "It is clear that this is not optimal," admits Schlecht. “But unfortunately there is no other way.” To understand why the timber market is so unstable, you need to look back at the past year.
In Canada, all sawmills were temporarily shut down in 2020 - a hard blow for the international timber trade, especially for the US carpentry. "Suddenly they ran out of wood," explains Schlecht. The financially mostly very potent US companies sought their salvation on the European market. Many Chinese companies did the same - and within a very short time ensured an immense excess demand in this country. The result: Instead of supplying domestic companies, German and Austrian sawmills shipped their goods out into the wide world, where they sometimes received twice as much for a cubic meter of wood. The local timber merchants and carpenters have to pay the increased prices. "It would be wrong to put all the blame on the US and the Chinese," says Schlecht,who invests almost five hours a day to adjust his prices. Other reasons: the winter, which, especially in South Tyrol, meant that it was hardly possible to log because of the snow. And the building boom that has been prevalent for several years.
Leopold Göring has been one of Schlecht's customers for years. The carpenter from Starnberg has no choice but to pass the fluctuating prices on to his customers. “A lot of discussions are necessary,” he says. Often it is said: “I will be happy to build your house for you - but unfortunately only at the current price.” Göring recently added a price-sliding clause in his contracts. This enables him to determine the final price for the order only when he has also ordered the wood required for it. “Before that, I just don't know how much it will cost me,” he emphasizes. It is hardly possible to plan more than two to three weeks in advance. Especially not when some wooden boards have a delivery time of more than ten weeks. "It is impossible to make a statement about the price."
Martin Fink is also concerned about the situation. The chairman of the Starnberg Forest Owners Association complained that the prices for round wood from domestic forests were not appropriate to the market situation. “The prices were so low that the forest owners could barely pay the wood chopper.” The sawmills had missed out on creating an incentive for logging with better pay. In winter, for example, hardly any wood was produced outside the areas of large forest owners. “Nobody lets their forest grow for 70 to 80 years just so that they can cut it down without profit.” The Forest Damage Compensation Act is also counterproductive for Fink. This means that the spruce felling is limited to a maximum of 85 percent. It is true that it is right to curb fresh wood felling on a large scale,to get the "beetle wood" (bark beetle) from the market, but from his point of view all forest owners under 40 hectares would have to be exempt. Fink: "Otherwise we will soon run out of regional wood to supply our local sawmills and carpenters."
Apparently, Hubert Aiwanger also sees it that way. At least the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs announced that he supported the demand that the logging restrictions for wood be defused as a matter of urgency. Forest Minister Michaela Kaniber made the sawmills an obligation not to do business exclusively with financially strong customers from overseas.
