The first half of the year saw a total of 5.9 million cubic meters of timber harvested in Norway, with timber prices remaining high. The gross value of the timber sold so far in 2023 amounts to three billion Norwegian kroner.
Following record-breaking harvests in Norway in both 2021 and 2022, the numbers so far suggest that we may see significant harvest figures again this year.
Of the volume harvested in the first half of the year, 73 percent was spruce and 24 percent was pine. Forest owners in Innlandet accounted for a staggering 40 percent of the harvest volume in the first half of the year, but it was the forest owners in Møre og Romsdal who received the highest payment for their timber during this period.
Prices remain high
The prices for Norwegian timber are at record highs and continue to rise slightly. “This is a trend we have seen over many years. The current increase is driven by the price of sawn timber, while the price for pulpwood has leveled off,” says senior advisor Arne Rannem from the Norwegian Agricultural Agency.
The price for sawn spruce timber, which experienced a negative trend from September 2022 to April this year, has since increased and was at 638 NOK per cubic meter in June. The price for sawn pine timber has also increased slightly in May and June, reaching 599 NOK per cubic meter at the end of the first half of the year.
“It is common for prices to increase somewhat during the summer. Therefore, it is still too early to say whether the negative trend we experienced in sawn timber prices last autumn and spring has reversed. We will closely monitor the developments,” says senior advisor Arne Rannem from the Norwegian Agricultural Agency.
The increase in pulpwood prices, which began in the summer of 2022 and continued throughout the first quarter of 2023, leveled off in the second quarter of this year. The average price for pulpwood was 421 NOK per cubic meter for spruce and 388 NOK per cubic meter for pine in June.