The price of timber has been on a real rollercoaster ride in recent years. According to the Forestry Association, the current price is nowhere near enough to compensate for inflation. They are hoping that prices will rise in a summer with little damaged timber.

A solid cubic metre of good quality timber currently costs 110 to 120 euros net. According to Thomas Ölz, Managing Director of the Forestry Association, the rollercoaster ride has continued recently. The challenge: if the timber price is too high, the services of the Vorarlberg timber industry become increasingly unaffordable; if the timber price is too low, it is no longer profitable for forest owners.

'The timber market always goes up and down a bit,' says Ölz, pointing out that the sector 'hasn't really been affected by inflation in that sense'. Due to inflation, money has lost more than 20 per cent in value over the past three years. Wood has therefore not compensated for this loss in value with a corresponding increase in price.

Good timber quality due to weather conditions
Thomas Ölz is optimistic about the price trend this summer. This is mainly due to the weather situation, which has resulted in little damaged timber. "Few wild trees, little bark beetle wood. And not just in our region, of course, but in Central Europe as a whole," says Ölz.

Less damaged timber reduces supply, which tends to lead to higher prices. And customers appreciate the advantages of building with wood. The demand for good quality timber is already having an effect.

'Hope to at least be able to realise price increases'

'Then we hope that we can at least realise these price increases,' says Ölz, who also expresses his wishes in figures: from the current price of 110 to 120 euros for a solid cubic metre, he would like to see it rise to 140 euros.

Source: vorarlberg.orf.at