world news - 06.06.2008
Roundwood sales from small-scale private forests
About 150,000 roundwood sales
are concluded in Finland each year. The vast majority are stumpage
sales, in which the seller hands over to the buyer a right to fell a
certain amount of roundwood or to a specified logging area. In a
stumpage sale, i.e. in a logging contract, the purchasing organisation
assumes responsibility for the harvesting of trees as specified in the
contract’s terms and conditions. The seller is paid the stumpage price
mentioned in the contract for the measured amount of felled roundwood. In delivery sales, the seller
agrees to deliver a certain amount of roundwood to a mutually-agreed
location within the contract deadline. The seller is paid the delivery
price mentioned in the contract for the measured amount of roundwood. Roundwood sales should be
carried out once a tree stand has stopped growing because the value of
its growing stock will not increase substantially after this point.
Thinning should be taken care in good time because it promotes the
growth of the trees that are left standing and thus increases the
returns earned by the forest owner. The correct timing for this can be
determined from the height of the tree stand’s growing crowns. If a
crown contracts too much, the tree’s growth rate slows and the risk of
snow and storm damage increases. Insects are also more likely to damage
trees if their growth has weakened. There are over 300 000 small-scale forest holdings in Finland with the average size of about 30 hectares.
Finland’s forest resources are sufficient to allow felling volumes in
small-scale private forests to increase to above 60 million cubic
metres.
In recent years, the forest
industry’s annual roundwood purchases from small-scale private forest
owners have amounted to about 45 million cubic metres. Present logging
volumes leave over 15 million cubic metres of felling potential in
small-scale private forests untapped.
See also:
- — Finnish forest owners plant 160 million saplings
- — Green alarm for Russia’s economic boom
- — Congo Basin Forest Is Biggest For Approved Logging
- — Global trade of woodchips reaching new records
- — A more market oriented approach is needed in the forest industry