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But how big is the UK firewood market?


tree888
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:confused1: Someone asked me a simple question the other day which I have no idea how to answer?

 

The question is: How big is the UK firewood market?

 

I suppose you could answer this approximately by answering some different questions such as:

 

- How much firewood is sold in the UK each year?

- How many households have an open fire that they burn wood on?

- How many wood burning stoves are there in the UK?

 

Anyone got any idea how to guesstimate an answer to this?

 

Cheers.

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I 'guess' any 'guestimate' would be no better than that. I think they missed a trick in the recent census by not detailing the question about home heating. The choices were only gas, electric or solid fuel I think. No choice between mains gas or delived propane. No choice on wood or coal & no choice for anyone who is into heat extraction or solar.

 

As for log production, how on earth would you go about guessing the total output. I see myself as a 'small' guy, shifted about 150m3 last season. within 15 minutes travelling I know of another 5 guys doing logs. One, just down the road shifts more in a weekend than I do in a month & more in a week than I do all season. But, the total output from the hundreds/thousands of 'small' guys across the country must be significant yet unregulated or measured.

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I saw the thread title and for some reason immediately thought of this quote from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy:

 

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space" - Douglas Adams.

 

Apologies that I have nothing constructive to add to the thread! :laugh1:

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I am one small retailer selling around 3 or 4 stoves a week, most of these are replacing gas appliances or bringing a disused fireplace back into use.

 

Demand for burning wood is growing at around 30% per annum, this includes chip and pellets. Forest owners will finally be getting a sensible return on their investement. The days of cheap firweood have I am afraid gone, in 3 years prices of pellets has doubled, this is guided by Balcas who have most of the market and the rest follow suit.

 

The biggest demand should be for good quality products, as customers wake up to what is good and what is less good they will channel their orders accordingly.

 

A

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Does this mean at some point firewood merchants will have to rely more upon imported wood to meet demand, rather than mow every tree down in sight? As one firewood selling geezer from around london said, if you sell more than 17% of your total tree stock its more likely to be unsustainable as it would take longer to replace it. It would put prices up due to importing costs.. Maybe this could be a reason why this little island is more of a gas and coal burner than europe and the rest of the world, with their vast forests, which countries they are in are only seperated by a map drawn border, rather than the north sea :)

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