Importing firewood

[MattyF]

No, he forgot to add, at the current market rate.
 
In part this goes back to the thread which touched on woodlots. The lots are sold at about 10x the market rate making them unviable as an enterprise. As well as fragmenting management. This results in woods that aren't managed commercially and leads to derelict woodlands, and a fall in timber volume for firewood. And when they are managed on a commercial scale the timber goes to biomass.  There's plenty of timber there. It's just that you have to pay the market rate.
 
There are also huge biosecurity concerns with importing firewood. Emerald ash borer has now spread west of Russia. Of course all the firewood is correctly kiln dried etc, etc. isn't it. Has anyone on here who imports it actually got an auditable quality control/biosecurity system which they monitor and enforce. Or do you just take the word of the supplier.
 
2020 is the International Year of Plant Health.

2020 is International Year of Plant Health

WWW.UNENVIRONMENT.ORG

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Did you know that some tree species can only be germinated...  
Don't import firewood.

For that risk alone we should be banning all imported timber right now.
Close down these absolutely ridiculous biomass schemes and we would have a lot more timber on the market at a sensible price instead of this farce of burning trees for payments because it’s apparently green energy.

[The avantgardener]

The prolonged wet weather down in the SE has had a massive impact on timber extraction for the biomass market, the loaded Baltic vessels are readily seen at Sandwich.

[Alycidon]

23 hours ago, CutterSy said:

 

Really?!
Everyone is cutting 1000s on tons of Ash each year. We are having a mild winter as you say. There seems to be plenty around, where are you based?

 

Centeral Northants,   M1 J18 about 5 miles,  I now only have a processer that takes up to about 280mm dia but I do have a Posch 20 ton splitter so an odd over size sticks is not to much of an issue.     I do have about a seasons stock of cord from the farm,  but a reliable supplier would be nice to know for the future.    I like to have a coupie of years of cord around.    Many names have been given to me, many have promised delivery ( as it has to go about 100 yards across a field then May - Sept is the preferred delivery window but we do have a fair fleet of JDs up to about 160 hp if needed.

 

A

[Alycidon]

6 hours ago, EdwardC said:

No, he forgot to add, at the current market rate.

 

In part this goes back to the thread which touched on woodlots. The lots are sold at about 10x the market rate making them unviable as an enterprise. As well as fragmenting management. This results in woods that aren't managed commercially and leads to derelict woodlands, and a fall in timber volume for firewood. And when they are managed on a commercial scale the timber goes to biomass.  There's plenty of timber there. It's just that you have to pay the market rate.

 

There are also huge biosecurity concerns with importing firewood. Emerald ash borer has now spread west of Russia. Of course all the firewood is correctly kiln dried etc, etc. isn't it. Has anyone on here who imports it actually got an auditable quality control/biosecurity system which they monitor and enforce. Or do you just take the word of the supplier.

 

2020 is the International Year of Plant Health.

2020 is International Year of Plant Health

WWW.UNENVIRONMENT.ORG

---

Did you know that some tree species can only be germinated...

 

Don't import firewood.

All imported firewood is now subject to FC inspection, they are looking for the Emerald Ash borer and another similar borer that infects softwood.  In the last two years I have only had a couple of containers that were not inspected.      Logs themselves are kiln dried Birch and Oak,  crates used to be KD Birch but the last container had a mix of timbers making up the crates.  The FC are looking for softwood with bark that is not stamped Heat treated,  thats why this year I bought kindling from the guy at Glossop Firewood.

 

As an aside what now is the market rate in the midland ride side for decent Ash/Syc/Birch/Beech.

 

 

A

[Big J]

On 21/01/2020 at 12:53, bigbaddom said:

Hello Compost Charlie

 

I would say don't import at all - burning wood is sort of carbon neutral only if you're using a local source otherwise the energy involved in shipping firewood means you're producing more CO2 than necessary. Ie. its no longer a green source of energy. Apparently the coal/biomass power station Drax, which is a huge power station, is importing American and Canadian woodchip as fuel - it boggles belief the way the powers that be are trying to fool us that we are going green. 

 

Get your wood nice and local no matter how crazily "cheap" and "green" importing appears to be.

Not only from North America, but eucalyptus chip from New Zealand too ?

[Big J]

7 hours ago, MattyF said:

For that risk alone we should be banning all imported timber right now.
Close down these absolutely ridiculous biomass schemes and we would have a lot more timber on the market at a sensible price instead of this farce of burning trees for payments because it’s apparently green energy.

That wouldn't be possible as the UK imports 80% of all it's timber. We are second only to China in how little of our own timber we utilise.

 

Firewood is however almost the worst thing you could import. Usually from smaller individual supplies in sometimes sketchy locations, felling questionably ethical trees and then very hard to adequately inspect for biosecurity. Finally, it's distributed widely in a broad swath of areas within the UK, further increasing the biosecurity issues. 

 

Alycidon - you think the availability of timber is bad now? Just wait until the ash is gone. 3-4 years, the UK firewood industry is going to be fall off a cliff. Given that there are now fewer and fewer open fires, the only option is to educate customers about softwood. I'm endless surprised and disappointed how few of the firewood retailers I supply are able to sell softwood. I only have one that has educated customers. He only does mixed loads.

 

That being said, after the 1980s, the Commission stopped pushing softwood planting and a lot of plantation was cleared and then replaced with bloody native broadleaf. So expect to see a substantial drop in the availability of softwood too.

[Alycidon]

4 hours ago, Big J said:

 

 

Alycidon - you think the availability of timber is bad now? Just wait until the ash is gone. 3-4 years, the UK firewood industry is going to be fall off a cliff. Given that there are now fewer and fewer open fires, the only option is to educate customers about softwood. I'm endless surprised and disappointed how few of the firewood retailers I supply are able to sell softwood. I only have one that has educated customers. He only does mixed loads.

 

That being said, after the 1980s, the Commission stopped pushing softwood planting and a lot of plantation was cleared and then replaced with bloody native broadleaf. So expect to see a substantial drop in the availability of softwood too.

I have a fair stock of softwood, some processed 4 or 5 years ago,  cant hardly give it away. Burn it ourselves in the showroom stoves.  Would be pleased to see an upturn in demand for soft.  I do advise customers that it burns hotter than hard but will want re fueling about 10 mins before hard,  thus cost per kw generated is about the same,

 

A

[BuyFirewodDirect]

On 21/01/2020 at 11:17, Compost Charlie said:

Good morning guys, I've finally plucked up the courage to ask a question after many years of viewing the forum from afar. 

My stocks of dry firewood are running low and I have noticed that people are starting to import firewood from the baltics and Eastern Europe. I'm pretty green about this subject so I'd like some friendly advice on importing and suppliers which are legitimate. I looked on the Internet and it was pretty overwhelming the amount of suppliers looking for business. 

Many thanks in advance for your help 

Cheers ? 

There are strong arguments why you should not import from Baltics. The same time we know that when season will kick in, without the imports, there will be a shortages. As per latest UK Forestry data for previous year, abt 45% imported kiln dried logs were from Latvia.  

Yes- you need to ask for references, and certainly check 100% what you are ordering.

We own a sawmill in Latvia, we buying state forest harvested hardwood logs, and make into: pallet material, ready made pallets, sauna boards, furniture components and  kiln dried logs. 

We are UK based trading office based in Bury. 

If you want more advice, dont hesitate contact us.

Martin

Buy Firewood Direct Ltd.