“Toilet paper effect” for firewood: Demand is also high in the district
Created: 08/03/2022, 06:30
By: Elena Royer
"Hotly contested goods": In the search for an alternative to gas, many people want to heat with wood in winter.
The raw material is in high demand.
© Christin Klose/DPA
Anyone who wants to buy firewood in the district at the moment has a bad hand.
Providers either have nothing left in stock or only serve regular customers.
One provider even speaks of a “toilet paper effect”.
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen – the thermometer shows 30 degrees and more these days.
You shouldn't really have to think about heating, and yet that's exactly what many people do.
She is afraid of freezing in winter.
It is not completely unfounded, because the alarm level in the "Gas Emergency Plan" has been in effect since the end of June.
In the search for an alternative to gas, the firewood market is overrun.
The providers in the district can hardly save themselves from inquiries.
But the raw material is scarce.
High demand for firewood - "Customers are afraid"
This is confirmed by Sonja Plank from the company "Holz Arena Heimkreiter" in Bad Tölz.
"We don't have any wood in stock." That's the sentence she has to tell her customers over and over again on the phone.
"We've been sold out for months." Plank, who is responsible for sales at the "Holz Arena", notes: "Customers are afraid." Because experience has shown that the demand for firewood at this time of year is low in other years.
"Normally, the inquiries don't come until autumn, when it's getting colder," she says.
She explains to prospective customers on the phone that they should call again later in the summer.
It might be possible to say when wood will be available again.
Whether and how far the prices will then rise, Plank cannot say at the moment.
"But I do think that it will be more expensive."
You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.
Firewood prices are skyrocketing
The Wolfratshausen machine ring also has no firewood in stock.
"We prepare the wood over the summer and dry it so that it can be used in the fall," explains Moritz Kubin, forester and operations manager at the machine ring.
"Wood is currently a hotly contested commodity," he says, because after all, several interested parties call the machine ring every day.
For a star of mixed firewood, customers would currently have to pay around 140 euros.
"It used to be 110 to 120 euros," says Kubin.
The situation is similar at the Bavarian State Forests in Bad Tölz.
"The demand for firewood is very high," confirms Robert Krebs, the deputy manager of the forestry operation.
"But it's not like the end of the world now."
Lots of people ask for oven-ready wood, but Krebs has to disappoint her.
"We either have four-meter sections or wood for self-processing," he says.
But even the state forests cannot offer unlimited amounts of wood.
"We work according to a plan," explains Krebs.
“Our annual felling is based on this.
We pay attention to sustainability.
When the wood is gone, it's gone." That's why the state forests are currently giving preference to their regular customers, depending on availability - "other interested parties to a limited extent," explains Krebs.
As with many providers, the prices of the state forests have also risen.
"But everything with moderation and goal," emphasizes Krebs.
"For all tree species, one can speak of a price increase of 10 to 15 percent." He recommends anyone who is still looking for wood for the winter to
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Firewood in high demand: Even people without a stove order wood
The forest owners' association in Wolfratshausen also speaks of a "strongly increased demand".
Peter Bonleitner, the managing director of "WP Handels GmbH", a subsidiary of the forest owners' association, observes: "Even people who do not have a stove or whose stove has not yet been delivered are now ordering wood." Others would order significantly more than usual.
"One can almost speak of a toilet paper effect," says Bonleitner, alluding to the fact that people were hoarding toilet paper at the beginning of the corona pandemic.
Now it's wood.
"Currently, we can almost only serve our regular customers," he says.
Because right now is not the peak season for cutting wood.
"Otherwise I could sell ten trucks of wood every day."
Don't buy more than you need
Despite the uncertainties, he recommends keeping a cool head.
"I don't recommend buying six Ster, although you really only need three," says Bonleitner.
"That only makes the product more expensive." A price increase can already be seen at the forest owners' association: Before the crisis, the price was 100 euros for a piece of oven-ready beech wood, it has now risen significantly to 130 to 140 euros per piece.
"It's even more expensive in the direction of Munich and Tegernsee," says Bonleitner.
Will the situation ease up again in the near future?
Bonleitner believes that one of the decisive factors will be how gas supplies develop.
"In addition, the political situation would have to change significantly."
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