Current issue: 58(5)
The existence and direction of causal relationships between the time series for the Finnish roundwood market for the period 1960–1994 is tested. Using simple bivariate analysis, we found evidence that for both logs and pulpwood, the lagged prices are helpful in forecasting quantity for the next year, but not vice versa. Saw log stumpage prices have significantly Granger-caused pulpwood prices over the business cycles, but the effect has diminished towards the present time. For quantities traded, the direction of causality was rather from pulpwood to saw logs. The consistency of bivariate test results was checked by the Granger-causality tests within trivariate VAR-models for both markets, and the results were found to be fairly similar to bivariate tests. The price fluctuations in the international markets for forest products have been found to be carried to domestic wood markets dominantly via the pulpwood part of the market.
When Finland attained independence in 1917–1918, about 65% of her population made their linving from agriculture and only 17% from industry. Despite the fact that most sectors of the modern forest industry, i.e. sawmilling, pulp and paper making as well as plywood industry were then in existence a considerable proportion of timber was exported as roundwood.
It was reasonable to assume, however, that further economic development would reduce the roundwood exports to provide raw material for industry. The present paper investigates the Finnish roundwood exports in 1921–1986 largely from the point of view of this hypothesis. Examination of statistics is focused on the change of volume of exports in the major categories of wood, changes in the trade policies of consumer countries, changes in competition between exporting countries and changes in Finnish export policy.
The PDF includes an abstract in English.
In this paper the system of collective timber price agreement in Norway is described. The history of »collective behaviour» in the roundwood market can be tracked far back in history, with different degrees of importance, and it has totally dominated the price-formation of roundwood from the 1950’s until the present. In trying to answer the question »What has been the effect of the collective price agreements» a few theoretical market models are used and the empirical data are also employed. Both the theoretical discussion and the empirical data seem to indicate that the forest owners are better off with collective price agreements than with a situation where there are no organized price-negotiations.
The PDF includes a summary in English.
This study was carried out on behalf of the Central Association of Finnish Forest Industries (now Finnish Forest Industries Federation) in order to obtain information about the wood raw material situation, to serve, in turn, as a basis for the forest industries’ long-term planning. The study deals with the potential supply of roundwood, industrial residue and forest residue by the year 200 by five wood-supply areas. Examination of the situation during the period of 1972–80 is based on available balances and that concerning the period 1985–2000 in the estimated quantities available for industrial use.
The PDF includes a summary in English.
The paper deals with the optimization of roundwood transport in cases where many destinations for it exist and where several means of transport are available. It is also understood that the capacities of the factories to which wood is transported can be used at varying degree. A model was developed for a case such as Finland which sells most of its products abroad.
In the above case, the optimization of roundwood transport does not necessarily mean minimization of transport costs. What is aimed at is to obtain, by using different combinations (mill destinations and the media of transport) the maximum difference between the allowable cut (calculated) and real (actual) transport costs.
The PDF includes a summary in English.
Measurement of timber in a vehicle load or in a bundle is best performed at the mill where the measuring of large quantities can be mechanized and sampling is possible. Load measurement methods include calculation of the number of units, measurement of pile volume, weight scaling and determination of solid content in accordance with Archimedes principle by immersion in water. For some timber assortments, load measurement is sufficiently accurate and suitable unit of measure. The accuracy of load measurement can be increased or the result can be converted by sampling to a more appropriate unit of measure.
In load sampling measurement, a sample is taken from the population, and the desired more accurate measurement is made from the sample. The basic measurement for the whole population can be converted into the more accurate measuring unit by means of the ratio between it and the basic measure. Unit, pile and weight sampling can be used. The aim for pulpwood is to calculate the dry matter content without bark, which means that the amount of bark and the dry weight of wood must be determined by sampling.
The size of the sample depends on size of the population, variation of the ratio between the loads, and the accuracy required. As the quantity of wood to be measured decreases, sampling measurement will reduce the measuring costs by up to 80%. In addition, there is saving in costs by rationalization.
The PDF includes a summary in English.
The present study is an examination of the problems involved in raw-wood inventory from the viewpoint of business economics. The term inventory used here includes the standing timber marked for cutting as well as delivery contracts. The task of inventory is to buffer the differences in timing, locality, quantity and quality caused by purchase, production and delivery processes. The basic problem is concerned with profits.
The basic aim is to keep the inventory small. Its limits are determined by comparing the storage costs and costs of shortage. The costs may be decreased without risking the reliability of deliveries by technical development and road improvement, which also decrease dependence on the seasonal variation of harvesting of timber. A model based on present practices, statistics and practical experiences can be used to calculate different alternatives. The volume of purchases, felling, deliveries, transportation, and differences in quantities and transfer is used to estimate the target level of the inventory. It forms a forecast which the future performances can be compared to. In addition to monitoring turnover rate of the total inventory and capital tied to the inventory, also the exceptions in structure, time and quantity of the inventory and the factors changing it should be monitored. A special difficulty in timber inventory book-keeping are the continuous variations in the measured volumes even if no loss occurs.
The PDF includes a summary in English.
The paper studied the effect of felling time and conditions in the forest depot of timber to damages caused by spruce ambrosia beetle (Trypodendron lineatum Oliv.) to coniferous timber with bark, both experimentally and observing forest depots in Finland. Effects of fellings was studied by studying the abundance of the beetles in logging residue.
The results show that the spruce ambrosia beetles favour timber felled during the late autumn and winter, stored in a shaded place in the forest. In addition, new spruce stumps maintain and increase the beetle population. Fellings in the forest will increase population during the next year and cause damages in forest depot of timber nearby, because the insect breeds in the stumps. The experiments showed that it is possible to diminish the damages caused by the beetle to timber with bark by spraying with insecticides, and timing the fellings and transport of timber so that there is no timber in the forest in the spring during the time when the insect swarms.
The PDF includes a summary in German.
Silva Fennica issue 52 includes presentations held in professional development courses, arranged for foresters working in public administration in 1938. The presentations focus on practical issues in forest management and administration, especially in regional level. The education was arranged by Forest Service.
This presentation describes the history of road transport of timber in Finland and discusses its significance and potential to forestry in the state forests.
Silva Fennica Issue 39 includes presentations held in professional development courses in 1935 that were arranged for foresters working in public administration. The presentations focus on practical issues in forest management and administration, especially in regional level.
This presentation lists statistics available on forestry.
This paper concentrates on the roundwood commerce in Western Europe as seen from the point of view of Finland, considering the role of Eastern Europe. The first part analyses exports and imports both quantitatively and qualitatively, and the balance of the trade in the export countries. Second part covers the new market groups in Europe and the opportunities for a common market.
Arter the Second World War, a surprisingly large trade in roundwood reappeared in Europe. The European countries exported in average 11 million m3 of roundwood annually, of which 4.3 million m3 was pulpwood, and 2.8 million m3 pitprops. Finland leads exports during the 1950s with a yearly average of 4.2 million m3, followed by France and Sweden. Western Germany is the largest importing country with a negative balance of 2.8 million m3. It is concluded, from a theoretical point of view, that in Western Europe only Finland can maintain a large roundwood export. From a national point of view, however, it would be more favourable to expand the countries’ own refining industries.
On the whole, it seems as if the European roundwood trade should continue on a rather large scale during the 1960s, partly because the border trade can be expected to increase, with a freer trade, and partly because the European timber deficit needs filling from sources outside Europe. In addition, the pulp industries in the importing countries will compete more and more keenly with the exporting countries for pulpwood supplies.
The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.
The present investigation set out to find out the structures of supply and demand, channels and methods of marketing, developments in marketing methods, trade customs, similarities and differences in marketing of the private forest owners and the State, local features of the market of domestic roundwood trade in Finland, and compares marketing of unprocessed wood between Finland and Scandinavian countries. The study is based on statistics of various sections of trade and from the State Boards of Forestry.
The channels of marketing from private forests in Finland and the Scandinavian countries are different. In Norway the wood is primarily marketed through the forest owners’ associations, in Finland direct individual selling is applied, while in Sweden both channels are common. In Norway and in Sweden the forest owners’ marketing organizations were probably formed mainly to protect the forest owners’ interest in price formation. The price is determined on the organizational level, while in Finland the price formation mechanism has retained a competitive nature. In Sweden the creation of demand for roundwood has been one reason for establishment of the associations, which have established new forest industry particularly in areas of low demand.
The institutions affect also the trade customs in Norway and Sweden. For instance, measuring of roundwood is performed in Scandinavia according to detailed public regulations and often carried out by the officials of special measuring boards. The Forms Committee has also since 1950 brought significant unification in the trade customs of Finland. Greatest differences in trade customs between the State and private forestry is observed in Finland.
The producer’s role in marketing has increased since 1930s, which is demonstrated by the increasing activity in marketing by the forest owners’ associations in Norway and Sweden. Also, the relative importance of sales with contract for delivery has been growing. A second line of development appears in the more detailed norms in trade customs.
The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.
Roundwood statistics are essential in a country such as Finland, where the roundwood market costitutes one of the most important internal markets. Determining the price level of roundwood can, however, be problematic due to the difficulty of the empirical determination. The main difficulties are the many timber assortments, quality differcences within a timber assortment, large variation of local prices due to variations in demand and harvesting conditions and in sales methods. The article discusses these problems from the perspective of composing a roundwood statistics for different timber assortments that would allow local and temporal comparison of the prices. It seems impossible to compose price statistics that could eliminate totally the variation in the material, transport conditions and demand fluctuations caused by technical development. However, one can suffice to a compromise that would eliminate the major disturbances and take into account other factors that are not related with market when studying the price series. In addition, the paper discusses methods for calculation of price indices.
The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.
This paper aims at investigating which factors, in the point of view of the entrepreneur, define the choice of long-distance transport either as floating in bundles, steamship transport or barge transport in the waterway system of Lake Saimaa in 1950s. It defines the usage, kind of fleet, operation and costs of the abovesaid modes of transport. The investigation is mainly based on statistics of Enso-Gutzeit Oyj and the fuel office of the Finnish State Railways.
Location of the industrial enterprise sets the limits for use of the different modes of transport of roundwood. Previous decisions can influence the future choices, for instance, the capital the company has earler invested on the transportation system. Also, the type and amount of timber acquired by the company, transportation distance, time, and means of transport affect the choice of mode of transport. Those factors that direct decision-making, often lead the entrepreneur to stick to the chosen mode of transport.
Floating becomes the more inexpensive the larger the scale of operation is, and if the timber assortment is suitable for floating and water storage. For instance, dry wood is an asset for a wood export agency, and their sales have often time pressures, which rules floating out of their choices. Transportation in vessels has decreased to 4% of all roundwood haulage, but has its function as a supplementary way of transport.
The PDF includes a summary in German.
Central Association of Finnish Forest Industries decided in 1953 to begin collecting annual statistics of timber transportation of its members. The survey of members covers almost 97% of the timber transportations of the member companies, which have production over 1,000 cu ft. In all 79 companies answered the survey. Their total timber transportation was 166,4 million cu ft in 1952.
The long-distance transportation of saw logs by horse transport directly to the mill or other such location was 1,297 cu ft, by truck transport 42,644 cu ft, by rail transport 6,707 cu ft, and by water transport 115,789 cu ft. The average transportation distance was for horse transport 2.4 km, truck transport 27 km, rail transport 224 km and water transport 209 km.
The Acta Forestalia Fennica issue 61 was published in honour of professor Eino Saari’s 60th birthday.
The PDF includes a summary in German.
The export of roundwood from Finland was studied based on the official statistics of foreign trade. The volumes were converted to solid volumes under bark. Roundwood (logs and masts) or raw timber trade consisted mainly of saw logs. The main tree species was Scots pine (Pinus sylvestrs L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.). The annual volumes varied from 29,200 m3 in the war year 1918 to 657,200 m3 in 1924. Before the World War I the roundwood was exported mainly to Sweden and Russia, after the war the trade to Russia ceased. Also split spillet was a significant export item before the war. The export peaked in 1916 to 3 million m3, but decreased after the war to 30,000‒40,000 m3. The most important export item in the group of hewn timber has been Egyptian rafters, with annual export of 15,000‒284,600 m3 with the exception of the time of war. The export of spars exported to other countries than Egypt was highest before the war with 125,000 m3. The export of sleepers varied strongly, peaking in 1922. The total export of roundwood varied from 131,000 m3 in 1918 to 4.3 million m3 in 1927. Roundwood has mainly been exported to the European countries. Before the war, the main trading partners were United Kingdom and Russia. After the war the share of United Kingdom was nearly half of the volume, and Russia was replaced with Sweden.
The PDF includes a summary in German.
The survey focuses on the stumpage prices of standing sales, where the buyer of the wood takes care of felling and transport of the timber. The study concentrates further on conifer sawn timber. The prices of the sawn timber rose continuously from 1891 to 1910. After 1913 the stumpage price fluctuations reflected the changes in the market. The article includes a detailed description on the changes of the saw timber in 1913-1922 and the factors affecting the prices. The prices are shown for different parts of the Finland. The first world war affects the prices and demand on saw timber in 1917-1918. In Northern Finland the prices of sawn timber increased slower than in Southern Finland. In general, the unfavorable factors have had stronger impact on the stumpage prices than the favorable.
The PDF includes a summary in German.
The transport unit in roundwood towing on Lake Iso-Saimaa in Central Finland comprises a tug and a raft of bundled wood with a towline between them. There are several factors influencing the economic size of the transport unit in roundwood towing. These are changing with the enterprises and along with general developments. In this paper these factors or factor groups are seen from the point of view of the enterprise. The main question is to determine the most economic combination of tug and raft size.
From the point of view of the towing enterprises the unit costs of transport are the most decisive factor. Both the size of the raft as well as the power of the tug influence strongly the unit costs. As a long-term goal a raft of about 35,000 m3 and a tug of 550 kW or more is considered to be advisable. The width of channels and sounds then allow a free passage for rafts being 36–40 m wide.
The PDF includes a summary in Finnish and in French.
Bark beetles are amongst the most aggressive pest agents of coniferous forests. Due to this, many boreal countries have designated laws aiming to lower the risk of bark beetle epidemics. Finland’s forest legislation has pre-emptive measures targeted against bark beetles, and for Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), the law concerns pine shoot beetles (Tomicus spp.). This study used data collected around 25 piles of Scots pine roundwood that were harvested in the winter but left in the forest until the following November. Thus, the pine shoot beetles were able to use the piles for breeding. We assessed the number of emerged insects from the piles and the cascading damage they caused in the surrounding forests. All roundwood piles, regardless of their volume, were used by the beetles for breeding. Highest densities of beetle exit holes were found from the parts of the log with thick and intact bark. If the bark of the log was damaged by the harvester head, the number of beetles decreased significantly. Depending on the volume of the roundwood pile, the cascading damage (fallen shoots) was noticeable up to ca. 40–60 m from the roundwood pile. Storing of piles smaller than 50 m3 did not cause excess damage. The number of fallen shoots per tree was generally below the known thresholds for when growth losses can occur. However, the study was conducted in mature forests, and it can be assumed that the recorded damage levels would severely affect the growth of young pines, raising the question of where to store the roundwood. As with other bark beetles, the role of Tomicus beetles as damage agents may change in the future, but based on this as well as past studies, the species can be viewed as a notable damage agents only around long-term wood storage sites in the current northern conditions.
With progressing globalization of forest production, roundwood prices in different countries may follow similar trends. The Law of One Price (LOP) postulates that the price of a similar product should be the same in different markets when expressed in the same currency. The objectives of this research were (1) to test the LOP in selected coniferous sawlog markets, and (2) to analyze whether a common market – the European Union – leads to the existence of a single sawlog market. The analysis included Brazil, Chile, Finland, Germany, Norway, Poland, Russia Northwest, Sweden, the US South, the US Northwest, Canada East, and Canada West. The results suggest that some of the coniferous sawlog markets were cointegrated which means that they shared a long-term relationship even if in the short-term they do not necessarily adjust to each other. The LOP may hold between coniferous sawlog markets in Sweden and Norway from 1995 through 2012 when sawlog prices were expressed in USD, and in Norway and Finland for 2001–2012 for prices in EUR. Furthermore, the LOP may hold for North American markets in the West for 2004–2012.
At present, there are no means for reliably comparing the wood fiber contents of different material streams within the paper industry material chain with each other. The aim of this article is to introduce conversion factors that make it possible to quantify the volume of wood expressed in roundwood equivalent (RWE) values for different paper industry-related materials in the material chain. These conversion factors apply to wood pulp, paper, and recovered paper. European data are used in quantifying the paper industry material streams and calculating the RWE conversion factors. The introduced conversion factors can be used to estimate RWE volumes at a global scale. With assumption that paper recycling did not occur and that paper production volume remained unchanged, an additional volume of 666 million m3 RWEs would be required globally per annum to produce 167 million tons of virgin wood pulp to replace 222 million tons of recovered paper utilized by the paper industry in 2010. This volume is approximately the same as 1.6 times the total removal of wood in Europe (EU27), or the total annual removal of wood in the USA, Canada, and Brazil combined.
In a closed market, roundwood buyers pricing system affect the roundwood flow from the stands to different roundwood users. If a buyer is capable to discriminate higher value stands from low quality stands better than its competitors, the buyer should be able to buy better raw material. In the study, a discrete event simulation was used to examine the effect of residual value appraisal (RVA) -based pricing of roundwood by log dimensions and grades compared to the traditional pricing based on average unit prices (UP) of roundwood assortments on roundwood flow. The core of the simulation model was the data containing 51 pine dominated stands from southern Finland. Sample trees were theoretically bucked by the bucking simulator in order to estimate the volumes, dimensions and grades of the logs and roundwood assortments. The simulation model of roundwood markets included four roundwood buyers, two corporations and two saw milling enterprises. The main finding of the study was that the buyers who use RVA gains an advantage and receives better quality compared to buyers who use UP. As the number of buyers using RVA increases, the competition increased and the advantage decreased.