Will Brexit increase the cost of your wood fuel?

[Haironyourchest]

55 minutes ago, EdwardC said:

But all the money we put in has been promised, by those without any authority or power to give it, to the NHS. Or was that a lie. Nothing left for forestry, farming, science, industry, training, infrastructure, education, the environment, security, or anything else.

 

My favourite interviews on Brexit have been; the one with the bloke saying we should get on with it because his water company is owned by the French and it was English water so we should take back control of it, the ex-pat in Spain who voted Brexit because of immigration, and the sheep farmer who thought they were going to sell to the USA.

 

Some people just shouldn't be allowed to vote.

75% of Irish livestock exports are to the middle east (just before Ramadan, incidentally) - why shouldn't British sheep farmers export to the USA?

[aesmith]

15 hours ago, EdwardC said:

My favourite interviews on Brexit have been; the one with the bloke saying we should get on with it because his water company is owned by the French and it was English water so we should take back control of it, the ex-pat in Spain who voted Brexit because of immigration, and the sheep farmer who thought they were going to sell to the USA.

 

Some people just shouldn't be allowed to vote.

My favourite is the guy who voted leave because he didn't like the Eurovision Song Contest.

[Stubby]

10 minutes ago, aesmith said:

My favourite is the guy who voted leave because he didn't like the Eurovision Song Contest.

Sound reasoning ! ?

[aesmith]

More seriously what is the underlying reason that our own home firewood industry is having trouble competing with imports?  It seems wrong that firewood can be kiln dried in Latvia, shipped all the way over here and still be competitive.

[openspaceman]

25 minutes ago, aesmith said:

More seriously what is the underlying reason that our own home firewood industry is having trouble competing with imports?  It seems wrong that firewood can be kiln dried in Latvia, shipped all the way over here and still be competitive.

Firewood conversion is labour intensive, Latvia monthly wage is about £500 which is a quarter of what you would need to pay here.

[Stere]

Shipping cost is very cheap as % of total costs.

 

https://www.raconteur.net/finance/high-sulphur-fuels-shipping

 

New regs to try make it abit more green^.....

[Woodworks]

Cant imagine customers will pay more for logs than they do now. Yes the supplies of imported kilned dried logs may dry up but plenty of fires are just a luxury and if things get tight (many economist think they will)  customers will just cut back on the stove and use gas which is cheaper for heating anyway. 

Edited December 1, 2018 by Woodworks

[nepia]

But would they need to pay more?  If a greater acreage of home woodland was put back into management there would surely be economies of scale coming into play (machinery in use 5 days a week instead of 2?).  Transport costs could be kept down by using locally sourced firewood so would the retail price need to rise?

 

Debate please!  I'm just throwing my own ideas about.

[Woodworks]

17 minutes ago, nepia said:

But would they need to pay more?  If a greater acreage of home woodland was put back into management there would surely be economies of scale coming into play (machinery in use 5 days a week instead of 2?).  Transport costs could be kept down by using locally sourced firewood so would the retail price need to rise?

 

Debate please!  I'm just throwing my own ideas about.

I presume the driving force for imported kin dried wood is price so I guess managing native woods is more expensive. Most things are driven by market economics why would wood fuel be different? 

[nepia]

Agreed that most things are money driven. But if Brexit leads to Baltic kiln dried becoming the expensive option would that kick start the domestic market? Whether the end user gets to pay more for their cube than now or not would then be down to competition-induced pricing.  N'est-ce pas?

 

To go back to your earlier comment about consumers not paying more for their firewood - if I remember correctly your prices are at the high end as the market goes (no inference intended - I'm sure the quality earns it) and you sell well.  That suggests to me that others would be prepared to pay more unless Dartmoor is inhabited by the country's most generous people!