So what's going to happen to the firewood market?

[Big J]

I'm being told that £50-55 a tonne is presently the going rate in East Devon for roadside hardwood. That's almost low grade milling butt money.

[difflock]

Sniff,

tis a wile pity my 40 acres is nowt but Conifer, and mostly windthrown Lodgepole at that, cos otherwise I ud be a squillionaire!

Sigh.

[westphalian]

Well softwood HAS to go up as well??

 

[Stubby]

1 hour ago, westphalian said:

Well softwood HAS to go up as well??

 

One would have thought so ...Pro rata ..

[Alycidon]

On 03/09/2018 at 09:16, Big J said:

I would certainly be worth looking into now. Whether it was harvesting for logs or harvesting for biomass, you'd make a good return on either.

10 years ago when I retired from the motor industry and was half looking for something interesting to do I went to a renewable conference at the Newark show ground.   One of the speakers was growing big acreages of willow for biomass and had modified significantly a JD forage harvester to cut it.    Looking at the show guide now and checking the companies out on line almost all have gone to the wall.    In fairness there were also quite a few working in the bio diesel field.    Looks like the pig industry,  very cyclical.

 

A

[peckerwood2016]

I was helping out a mate finished off a small bio mass plant on a farm last week the only thing it did was dry the chip to put in the boiler now that doesn’t make sense?

[Alycidon]

23 hours ago, spuddog0507 said:

Gary i believe that poland and lithuainia are cutting and exporting timber at a alarming rate that by the year 2025 there wont be that much left, so that is not from a substainable source at all.

There is now a shortage of quality Ash roundwood in Lithuania,  exporters there are currently concentrating on Oak and Birch.   I did speak to my supplier the other week about becoming FSC Certified but they said they were not.

A

[Alycidon]

7 hours ago, Big J said:

I'm being told that £50-55 a tonne is presently the going rate in East Devon for roadside hardwood. That's almost low grade milling butt money.

Its around £70 a ton road side for good hardwood cord in the East Midlands.     

 

A

[richardwale]

Until responsible people acknowledge that soft wood is perfectly acceptable to burn  domestically, then your concerns about hardwood costs will keep this forum busy.

[spuddog0507]

2 hours ago, westphalian said:

Well softwood HAS to go up as well??

 

Well it has,soft wood prices have never been as good as they are now for years, £43 tonne R/S for softwood chip, bent shity twisty stuff and wood that is rotten on the outside this would of been left behind in recent years but now there is a demand for it and it seems to have a decent value, 3,7 mtr spruce sawlogs again R/S £65 tonne 3 years ago they where £28 tonne R/S and chip was £24 tonne delivered in, I for one just find enough hardwood for my own log customers but just recently have secured a few small hardwood clear fell and thinning jobs from 80 - 200 tonne so if hardwood firewood is £60 - £70 tonne R/S i might just make a few quid for a change,