Price of wood increasing?

[JimK]

see what? if your amateur predictions are true the =A3 vs Euro will soon be even stronger?

JimK

[dom]

True. But most of the cost of synthetic boards is in manufacture and transportation.

Simple example:

Sheet of 18mm chipboard weighs about 25Kg and costs about 15 quid =3D =A3600/tonne

Best hardwood fire logs cost about =A3120/tonne.

I don't have a price for junky softwood splinters and sawdust - seeing as most places throw them away, we can assume it's a lot less than =A3120/tonne - probably only the cost of putting it in a container and taking it away.

[dom]

Yes - but it wouldn't cause the diversion of joinery grade timber into biomass - unless the biomass people are paying joinery grade prices.

The only impact can be on the value of timber waste that goes into manufactured boards.

And as the cost of manufactured boards is largely manufacturing and transport costs, not raw material costs (or not the wood scrap part) - then the cost impact on the resale price of boards will be small.

It's the biomass plants that need to watch out - even with government subsidies for the the construction costs - they still need to source stuff to burn economically - and the timber trade will always be able to outbid them.

[NT]

That's true for any mass produced product. Power stations will consume large quantities, the resulting in a major price increase in chips. A major increase in a raw material cost means the product price goes up, the existence of bigger costs doesnt change that.

NT

[chris French]

Yup, we are having a new conservatory built, they were having a conversation about how much the price of timber has risen.

[Andy Champ]

Huh? That's decent quality meat. Don't burn it... SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!

BTW I wouldn't be surprised if the pound had bottomed out against the Euro as I have just got back from Austria.

Andy

[js.b1]

Following a devaluation it takes 24 months for the bulk of the devaluation to be passed on. Citibank indicate it can be as long as 30 months for certain commodities (*).

Reason being spot prices, supply chain delays and inability to pass the cost on since a devaluation typically occurs in a recession oddly enough :-) We should see the bulk of the devaluation passing before this year is out though.

(*) For some things it came through quite quickly - some whitegoods went up sharply, for other things it is taking time mainly because they are commodities subject to broader global demand (steel, aluminium, copper etc). One reason why inflation spiked early this year and is likely to remain stubbornly high for much of the year.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Its a race for the bottom on the FX markets. Everyone wants to devalue their currency to provide politically neutral ways of explaining inflation, and make their exports competitive.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Not really. Best biomass is fast growing wetland trees like poplar and willow

Worst structural timber is fast growing wetland trees, like poplar and willow. ;-)

[JimK]

"best" in terms of?

JimK

[The Natural Philosopher]

fastest accumulation of (dry) mass per unit time.

[Tim Lamb]

Also lends itself to low labour (mechanical) harvesting. Basically a mobile chipper.

regards

[The Natural Philosopher]

good point

[The Natural Philosopher]

..and also a very good way of using otherwise low productivity prone to flooding wetlands

[Adam Aglionby]

On 27 Apr, 14:08, " [e-mail]" > scale...

More thinking of diversion of land into faster growing timber, my understanding of forestry economics is shaky to say the least , but slow growing hardwoods strike me as an inheritance crop, something the grandchildren will be collecting on.

Used to be a tax dodge involving planting coniferous forests, hence large parts of Scotland got pined, great a crop can collect on this lifetime, but pine forests not known for bio diversity birch forests that were cleared had.

Willow and poplar coppice looks attractive but there must be some calorific value penalty to pay, by volume must take more softwood for same energy would guess.

Can see that coming, at moment think its only 350kW have to make before start doubling money with subsidy, hence interest in micro genertaion, burning wood , local coppice excepted, seems plain daft, Inverkip Power Station anyone