Will Brexit increase the cost of your wood fuel?

[Paul in the woods]

7 hours ago, EdwardC said:

But we're about to close our biggest market by both sales and growth down. No doubt all the lamb that we're not selling to the EU can be exported to the USA. If only we could.

Who's closing the door? We import far more from the EU than we export so if they don't take our lamb are we going to buy their cars, wine, cheese, logs etc? And if Brexitamageddon happens and the pound falls dramatically the lamb will be very cheap to export.

 

Being Brexit/Remain fence sitter I do hope we get a better debate from both sides if we end up having another nevereferendum.

 

Going back to logs, if we use more UK sourced trees I expect the tracability is better. Anyone see this on the BBC?

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-46377993/the-romanian-forest-that-s-disappearing

Quote

 

The Romanian forest that's disappearing

Cerna Valley National Park in Romania is home to one of Europe's last great beech forests.

But over half is unprotected by Unesco, and is currently facing extreme deforestation.

Environmentalist group Agent Green have been investigating the logging practices in the forest.

 

 

[devon TWiG]

Or we could eat the lamb ourselves and not import danish pork !

[nepia]

...just Buy British - lamb, pork, beef...

 

Said while trying not to sound jingoistic ?

[Haironyourchest]

2 hours ago, nepia said:

...just Buy British - lamb, pork, beef...

 

Said while trying not to sound jingoistic ?

Well why not? Why shouldn't countries be self sufficient in the things that they produce in abundance? Do we (you, UK)) really need to import lamb from New Zealand? Wine from France? South America and the States produce decent wine. Cheese can be made just about anywhere nowadays to be like cheese from anywhere else. In Ireland we have locally made Buffalo Mozzarella, from actual buffaloes, in Aldi. As good as Italian buffalo mozzarella to my tastebuds. Certain things, commodities like steel and fossil fuel obviously are location dependant. Just being a banking and "services" economy is really dangerous in the long run, makes for vulnerability in my mind. Quality of life is a real thing, and the cornucopia of choice we have today as consumers actually does no improve it, I feel. There comes a point at which you have so much choice on the shelves that it becomes silly, and food going to waste because theres too much there to sell it all.

[nepia]

Thanks for the valid points chaps.

 

Big J - RHI is gobbledegook to me.  It sounds like your thinking is to scrap it...?

[aesmith]

Just as the vaguest reference point, does anyone know the import duty which would apply now to firewood imports from outside the EU?   We're talking about import/export between UK and EU stopping, but isn't it more likely that it will continue with at worst some sorts of tariffs or limits.   I can't see why the UK would put in place a ban on import, or the EU a ban on export.

[Woodworks]

15 hours ago, nepia said:

 

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!

I am fortunate there are quite a few wealthy retired sort close by who can afford it. Just speculating that if brexit is bad (it probably will  be) and we all feel it in our pockets luxuries like logs will be one of the first things to go.

 

I know darn well if I had to pay for logs our stove would become obsolete!

[nepia]

Thanks again.  Jonathan, RHI sounds like the archetypal politician's 'good idea', i.e a very bad one.

 

Beau, point taken about logs being a luxury.

 

So going back to my earlier speculation about domestic woodland management becoming viable the suggestion is now maybe not because the demand for firewood would drop due to non-firewood economic effects, i.e. the broader Brexit effect.

 

'Speculation' being the operative word; we're in the same position as all those pre-Brexit vote speculators who were making predictions!

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Woodworks said:

I know darn well if I had to pay for logs our stove would become obsolete!

Yes logically that's how I feel.

 

I cannot see it happening in my area as  local arboricultural contractors  concentrate on core business, so it's not at all unusual to see logs left at roadside for collection. see Bob's log goblin thread and I've just walked half a tonne of oak branch wood into my garden that was left from a height lifting on the road outside.

 

Also after 40 years of chopping logs and tending stoves it's visceral, if even a bit masochistic.

 

The chap I occasionally work for has a field full of randomly dumped logs but unfortunately that's 40 miles away but I have managed to get some from Jonny Burch as I re organise myself.

[Gary Prentice]

On 01/12/2018 at 11:22, Woodworks said:

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? 

Why is managing native woodlands more expensive?