Sitka thinnings for logs

[Woodwanter]

Not suprised. The cost of chip will go up I think, supply and demand.

 

Folk with chip boilers who got in late may find it's almost unviable to keep running them.

 

what surprises me is how fussy some of the boilers are, need chip within a few % and consistant size with no shards.  

[gdh]

I think sitka was around 45 a ton for small diameter delivered in when I last saw, it was rocketing but touch wood (pun intended) seems to be stabilising now. 

 

As said the large power stations are burning ridiculous amounts but I'm guessing there's a point where it will become cheaper to import, as a lot already do.

 

Roadside tonnage is usually calculated and delivered weighed or calculated. 

Edited March 17, 2018 by gdh

[briquette_seller]

13 hours ago, gdh said:

I think sitka was around 45 a ton for small diameter delivered in when I last saw, it was rocketing but touch wood (pun intended) seems to be stabilising now. 

 

As said the large power stations are burning ridiculous amounts but I'm guessing there's a point where it will become cheaper to import, as a lot already do.

 

Roadside tonnage is usually calculated and delivered weighed or calculated. 

You can't import softwood with bark on. 

The cost of peeling a few thousand tonnes too fill a cargo ship is going too be very expensive so I can't see this happening anytime soon 

[gdh]

12 minutes ago, briquette_seller said:

You can't import softwood with bark on. 

The cost of peeling a few thousand tonnes too fill a cargo ship is going too be very expensive so I can't see this happening anytime soon 

I wasn't aware of that, I wonder where imported firewood stands with that (I guess it's nearly all hardwoods). 

 

With the power stations I was referring to imported pellets where we import a large percentage of world production. I'm guessing the bark rule is for bugs so wouldn't apply after heavy processing. 

[briquette_seller]

1 hour ago, gdh said:

I wasn't aware of that, I wonder where imported firewood stands with that (I guess it's nearly all hardwoods). 

 

With the power stations I was referring to imported pellets where we import a large percentage of world production. I'm guessing the bark rule is for bugs so wouldn't apply after heavy processing. 

I think all imported firewood is now inspected by the plant health department of the forestry commission. Any softwood found with bark on, is then incinerated. 

[matelot]

My dad bought some forestry about twenty years ago. He's been selling standing timber and the money he's getting is more than he bought the land for....

[StephF]

5 hours ago, briquette_seller said:

I think all imported firewood is now inspected by the plant health department of the forestry commission. Any softwood found with bark on, is then incinerated. 

Last April in an FC customer liaison meeting they said were just registering importers for the time being,  so nothing was being checked. It may have changed but I doubt it, they were very worried about Ash emerald beetle coming in, but still not checking, they wouldn't have enough money to do checks on all imported timber.

[StephF]

21 hours ago, Woodwanter said:

Not suprised. The cost of chip will go up I think, supply and demand.

 

Folk with chip boilers who got in late may find it's almost unviable to keep running them.

 

what surprises me is how fussy some of the boilers are, need chip within a few % and consistant size with no shards.  

Sitka makes good chip, and fuel, if it's processed well. I agree as I've heard story's about chip boilers not working properly because chips too wet or unevenly shaped. Also I know people who have used poor quality pellets and ended up with big problems this year, it must be difficult to source good quality chips and pellets.

[scbk]

1 hour ago, StephF said:

Also I know people who have used poor quality pellets and ended up with big problems this year, it must be difficult to source good quality chips and pellets.

 

An elderly friend was telling me it's been hard to get her normal (wood pellet) cat litter, petsathome etc were/are sold out. There's quite a few new build homes, especially the housing association type, with pellet heating.

[scbk]

http://www.pelletcouncil.org.uk/news/wood-pellet-shortages