EU Imported firewood into the UK

[logwolf]

you cannot beat log customer loyalty, all customers want is good quality firewood 20% moister content and if you can continue to producing good logs they will stay with you simple as what happens after brexit concerns me.

[Alycidon]

Don't know accurate it is but this table does not agree with your figures Energy Cost Comparison | Nottingham Energy Partnership

 

That is the only site I am aware of the offers side by side comparisons of cost per KW and CO emissions per kw right across the market.

 

Its my usual site of reference if a potential customer asks me for running cost comparisons.

 

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[Woodworks]

That is the only site I am aware of the offers side by side comparisons of cost per KW and CO emissions per kw right across the market.

 

Its my usual site of reference if a potential customer asks me for running cost comparisons.

 

A

 

What do you make of their numbers for the cost of wood?

[oldoaktree]

As a fairly large importer of KDF into the UK from the EU and further afield it never ceases to amaze me how many posters on here say, "importing firewood is wrong", "it doesn't sit well with me", "it should be stopped" etc when the said same people do not give a damn when buying food, clothes, machinery, electrical goods etc etc etc. Do the same said people only buy British produced goods ?

At the end of the day, firewood is a commodity that will be traded the same as any other commodity and as we now live in a global market this will be the norm.

Where I do agree with them is where their concerns are regarding plant health, as reponsible importers we are obliged by law to give notice to FC Plant Health on every single container being imported from the EU and the rest of the world, something many importers are currently ignoring and puting the health of our own forests at risk.

Imported firewood need not be the devil reincarnated

 

I feel this is a very fair point, I see the same attitudes on farming forums.

I don't know but after logs have been kiln dried will that not have killed off any diseases in the wood .

I buy 3-4 loads a year to sell along side seasoned hardwood. Stove retailers tell customers that they need kiln dried logs , I've given up trying to tell them my seasoned wood is fine so I sell them kiln dried.

[Alycidon]

I feel this is a very fair point, I see the same attitudes on farming forums.

I don't know but after logs have been kiln dried will that not have killed off any diseases in the wood .

I buy 3-4 loads a year to sell along side seasoned hardwood. Stove retailers tell customers that they need kiln dried logs , I've given up trying to tell them my seasoned wood is fine so I sell them kiln dried.

 

The problem we as stove sellers get is stoves not performing due to wet wood, we tell them both verbally and in writing, but sometimes they dont listen. Had one last week, been in 4 months, smokes when the door is opened but works fine otherwise. All that has been burnt in it according to the husband was a free net of KD birch that I supplied with the stove. Ceilings were black so something not right.

 

We installed a rotary cowl and checked the flue draft, this was double what the stove had been tested at, yet it still did it. We then swept the chimney, bear in mind this has been in only a matter of weeks, liner was almost clogged with soot, his wife then told us that far from just burning the KD birch the husband had got hold of a load of fresh cut conifer and put most of it into the stove !!.

 

So we know that if customers use KD that should be OK but I have had instances where KD product is not dry internally so does not burn through. Again as the stove seller we are called in to investigate as 'there is a problem with the stove ', it all takes time and money.

 

There are some good supplies of seasoned wood out there yes, anything under 15% is fine for hardwood and about 18% for softwood, but many are trying to sell product at 30% plus. last week a major DIY chain was selling softwood as ready to burn, it was 45% !!.

A

[Alycidon]

What do you make of their numbers for the cost of wood?

 

The links dont work for me, but looking at the web site £94 a cube, suspect VAT and carriage will be extra and the MC is 20%- 25% so far from optimum performance wise. I suppose it depends whats in the bag as to the value for money.

 

Mind you anyone that can sell hand selected washed decorative logs at £700 I take my hat off to.

 

https://www.nottinghamshirelogs.com/collections/logs/products/designer-logs-8-logs?variant=7217130948

 

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[Tanat Valley Firewood]

Before setting up I talked to a number of other firewood traders and one guy said that he could not compete with farmers sons so he went to one of the Easter European countries and contracted directly with them. I buy my timber as waste and windfall from local farmers and other land owners. I process it and sell it around locally and whilst I am not making a living 12 months of the year, the model appears to be working. The idea of burning firewood that has come from a clear fell site, forced dried using huge amounts of energy and then trucked across Europe seems counter to what we are trying to do, that is provide a low carbon way to heat your home. The numbers may add up, but it cannot be squared as environmentally sound. Think global and act local, support your locality.

[LiamKealy]

Before setting up I talked to a number of other firewood traders and one guy said that he could not compete with farmers sons so he went to one of the Easter European countries and contracted directly with them. I buy my timber as waste and windfall from local farmers and other land owners. I process it and sell it around locally and whilst I am not making a living 12 months of the year, the model appears to be working. The idea of burning firewood that has come from a clear fell site, forced dried using huge amounts of energy and then trucked across Europe seems counter to what we are trying to do, that is provide a low carbon way to heat your home. The numbers may add up, but it cannot be squared as environmentally sound. Think global and act local, support your locality.

 

Totally agree. I'm doing the same thing in the Swansea Valley.

[timbernut]

The links dont work for me, but looking at the web site £94 a cube, suspect VAT and carriage will be extra and the MC is 20%- 25% so far from optimum performance wise. I suppose it depends whats in the bag as to the value for money.

 

 

 

Mind you anyone that can sell hand selected washed decorative logs at £700 I take my hat off to.

 

 

 

https://www.nottinghamshirelogs.com/collections/logs/products/designer-logs-8-logs?variant=7217130948

 

 

 

A

 

 

Think you'll find they're 7£ for bag of 10 logs!

 

 

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[Martin Searle]

I think imported firewood should at least be advertised as such it should be traceable So the consumer can make a judgement regarding the products carbon footprint.                              Martin. [email protected]