Timber Report – Winter 2014

Any hopes that the rises in timber prices that the pallet and packaging industry had been experiencing from the summer of 2013 had finished were quickly dashed on recommencement after the Christmas shut down. 2014 began with the UK Sawmills imposing their greatest increases yet, with the upward movement continuing well into the sprang period, By early summer the industry was faced with record raw material prices with timber being at a level that was at least 20% higher than the corresponding period in 2013. A combination of increased demand from construction and fencing, plus the rapid rise in log prices aided in part by the needs of biomass, brought this situation about. The net result was that timber was now entering the manufacturers’ yard at historically high rates. There can be no doubt that the industry is now more reliant on the UK as its main source of timber supply than ever before. British and Irish sawmills now supply at least 80% of the UK pallet and packaging needs and it is difficult to foresee a radical change to this for some time to come. Nevertheless with no rival in sight the Baltics will remain the main or rather the only feasible alternative to UK source with both South American and Portuguese imports completely drying up in 2014. For further details and the full story on timber prices visit http://www.timcon.org/ Source: Winter 2014 Timcon News 2

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