France: Oak prices on the rise again

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Fordaq
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After a lull in 2020 - mainly due to the effects of coronavirus pandemic - the prices of oak logs in France are now clearly on the rise. At the recent National Forests Office (ONF) auctions, prices climbed an average of 15% year-on-year (see also table below). Demand is very dynamic, it affects all products and all destinations. The excitement is general.

“In the oak segment, it's been a long time since I've seen such a spring , says a professional. ''So I'm mining as fast as I can because I don't know what tomorrow will bring. » Things are going so fast now…

Six months earlier, extreme caution reigned in timber auctions. As if a ghost was passing through auction rooms empty of buyers due to the pandemic… The sawyers were no longer thinking of destocking and securing their cash. Today, the recovery is as brutal as the halt imposed by the Covid was violent a year ago.

The consequences of this new dogma in the event of a collapse? We are now living it: with the strong industrial recovery in China and the construction boom in the USA, the disruption of production and the disorganization of logistics chains in 2020 have shattered the system: stocks reduced to zero, shortage of containers, inflation. maritime freight rates, global shortage of raw materials and finished products… Obviously, wood is no exception to this aberration. SO goes the world…

For his part, David Chavot sees things with a form of hindsight and measure. The director of Margaritelli France carefully examines the oak market and its developments. He gives us his analysis of the situation below.

Robert Wood

THE OAK MARKET AS SEEN BY DAVID CHAVOT

 
 David Chavot  

Fordaq: “At the first spring sales, oak prices rose significantly. What do you think ? "

David Chavot: “We are only at the start of the 2021 auction campaign. So, it is still a little early to draw definitive conclusions on the trends. However, I am currently observing tariff tensions on sawmill supplies which can no doubt be explained, during certain sales, by purchases reflecting shortages of wood among some of our colleagues. "

Fordaq: "However, the demand for sawnwood is very satisfactory."

David Chavot: “Yes, the activity is quite good in most processed oak products. This is obviously not the euphoria of 2016-2018, but we are still surprised at the current dynamism of the markets in most destinations and assortments. In 2020, at the mercy of the coronavirus pandemic, I imagined a drop in demand for oak but I see that this is not the case today. "

Fordaq: “Why? "

David Chavot : “Our Polish, Romanian and Ukrainian competitors seem less active at the moment. The supply of sawn oak is therefore a little more scarce, the general level of stocks among processors being quite low. At the same time, China has returned significantly to purchasing. In addition, with us, the demand of craftsmen for renovation and that of individuals for DIY are stimulating sales. Parquet, for example, benefits from this phenomenon, but on the other hand is penalized by the reluctance of major projects in tourism, hotels, restaurants ... Overall, our assessment of the situation is not negative, we have work and we produce. On the other hand, our fear comes from the availability of raw materials. ”

Fordaq: "Are the oak sawyers running out of wood?" "

David Chavot :“I note that the supply of logs sold or advertised is rather poor in quantity and quality, both in private and public forests. This supply / demand imbalance therefore leads to price pressures. In addition, China's return to log purchases is taking place through large international traders to the detriment, in particular, of French loggers who also work with us as suppliers to our sawmills. This essential link between upstream and downstream plays an important role in the mobilization of cutting of various species, in fragmented forests and among the fabric of many small private owners. In the case of oak, for example, I estimate that more than half of sales in private forests take place with loggers, the rest of the auctions resulting from experts and cooperatives. Even though industrialization and massification have changed data and changed behavior, so I think it would be a big mistake to consider that loggers no longer have their place in our forests. To conclude, I think that the export markets are an opportunity for our sector. But this is an aberration when we serve them in logs to the detriment of an added value that we can generate in France by offering them our sawnwood. ”Interview by Robert Wood

SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN OAK PRICES IN EAST France

                   Price in euros / m3; roadside

        Public auctions Bourgogne Franche-Comté      

Volume

unitary

Q1 2018

Q1 2019

Q1 2020

 Q1 2021

Change

2018/2021

Change

2020/2021

1 m3

157

144

        -

143

-8.9%

        -

1,5 m3

203

161

159

193

-4.9%

+ 21.4%

2 m3

233

172

208

229

-1.7%

+ 10.1%

2,5 m3

259

182

246

257

-0.8%

+ 4.5%

Source : Robert Wood

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