Around 15\u201320 million m\u00b3 of timber sales handled annually by Finland\u2019s forest management associations are moving onto a new digital trading system, but two of the country\u2019s biggest wood buyers \u2014 Mets\u00e4 Group and Stora Enso \u2014 have decided not to join it.<\/p>\n
The split risks leaving a sizeable part of Finnish timber procurement spread across competing platforms, company systems and direct bids, just as forest management associations attempt to standardise the way private timber sales are brought to market.<\/p>\n
The new platform, called Pino, was launched on September 15 by MHYP, the service company of Finland\u2019s forest management associations, together with agricultural and forest owners\u2019 organisation MTK.<\/p>\n
It is designed for timber sales carried out by the associations on behalf of private forest owners.<\/p>\n
Under these arrangements, forest owners authorise a local association to prepare the harvesting site, invite bids and assist with comparing prices and contractual terms.<\/p>\n
From September 15, new requests for bids handled by the associations are being channelled through Pino rather than automatically through the established Kuutio marketplace.<\/p>\n
Mets\u00e4 Group questions handling of bid data<\/strong><\/p>\n Mets\u00e4 Group has confirmed that it will not register for Pino.<\/p>\n The company has focused its concerns on the handling of commercially sensitive information, particularly bid and price data.<\/p>\n Mets\u00e4 Group forest director Juha Jumppanen has argued that an independent timber marketplace must ensure that competitively sensitive information cannot benefit one market participant over another.<\/p>\n The issue is linked partly to the role of Finland\u2019s forest management associations themselves.<\/p>\n Besides representing forest owners in timber sales, some associations are also involved in harvesting, timber delivery and other commercial forestry services.<\/p>\n For industrial buyers, this raises questions over how information submitted during timber tenders is separated from other activities within the association network.<\/p>\n MHYP says the system has been designed specifically to prevent such access.<\/p>\n According to the platform operator, the forestry specialist handling a timber sale cannot see incoming bids while the tender remains open.<\/p>\n An external review of the system is also planned, with the findings expected to be made available to timber buyers.<\/p>\n Stora Enso also stays outside the platform<\/strong><\/p>\n Stora Enso has also indicated that it does not intend to use Pino.<\/p>\n However, the company plans to continue bidding for timber marketed through forest management associations.<\/p>\n This means the dispute is not about whether Mets\u00e4 Group or Stora Enso will continue buying timber from private forest owners represented by the associations.<\/p>\n The main disagreement concerns the digital channel through which those bids are submitted and processed.<\/p>\n Stora Enso can continue participating through its own procurement systems or other direct channels.<\/p>\n Ahead of the launch, Stora Enso head of wood procurement in Finland Tuomas Tiilikainen said the company would continue participating in mandate-based timber transactions while raising questions over the platform\u2019s IT arrangements.<\/p>\n UPM had not taken a final position before the launch and continued to use Kuutio.<\/p>\n Finland\u2019s timber trading becomes increasingly fragmented<\/strong><\/p>\n The decisions by Mets\u00e4 Group and Stora Enso mean that Finnish timber procurement could remain divided across several parallel systems.<\/p>\n Forest management associations will use Pino for their mandate-based tenders, while major buyers can continue relying on Kuutio, their own procurement systems or email.<\/p>\n For forest owners, that can mean offers for the same harvesting site arriving through different channels.<\/p>\n Associations may then have to combine these bids before comparing them and presenting the result to the seller.<\/p>\n That complicates one of Pino\u2019s main objectives: creating a common procedure across Finland\u2019s forest management association network.<\/p>\n The associations have around 250 offices across the country and have historically used different methods to organise timber sales.<\/p>\n Some relied heavily on Kuutio, while others used email or local digital systems.<\/p>\n Kuutio remains a major force<\/strong><\/p>\n Pino is entering a market where Kuutio already occupies a strong position.<\/p>\n Kuutio is jointly owned by representatives of timber sellers and industrial buyers and has become deeply embedded in Finnish timber trading.<\/p>\n According to Kuutio chief executive Aku M\u00e4kel\u00e4, the platform was involved in around 55% of Finnish timber transactions in August.<\/p>\n Mets\u00e4 Group is also a shareholder in Kuutio and has said it intends to continue using the service.<\/p>\n This leaves Finland with two competing digital structures seeking an important role in timber procurement.<\/p>\n On one side, forest management associations are moving a large block of mandate-based timber sales onto Pino.<\/p>\n On the other, Kuutio retains major industrial users and an established position in the market.<\/p>\n Data control emerges as central issue<\/strong><\/p>\n The disagreement shows how timber-market infrastructure is becoming increasingly tied to control over commercial data.<\/p>\n Digital timber marketplaces can contain detailed information on harvesting sites, species, assortments, volumes, logging conditions, offered prices and bidding behaviour.<\/p>\n For large industrial buyers purchasing substantial volumes of roundwood each year, this information is commercially sensitive.<\/p>\n Pino says buyers can connect to the system through technical interfaces linked to their own procurement platforms, meaning companies would not necessarily have to work directly through Pino\u2019s own interface.<\/p>\n Whether that will be sufficient to bring reluctant buyers onto the platform remains unclear.<\/p>\n For forest owners, the more practical issue will be whether timber offered through the new system continues to attract bids from all major buyers active in their region.<\/p>\n With Mets\u00e4 Group and Stora Enso remaining outside Pino, Finland\u2019s attempt to create a more unified digital timber market is starting instead with a visible split between the country\u2019s forest-owner organisations and some of its largest industrial buyers.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Around 15\u201320 million m\u00b3 of timber sales handled annually by Finland\u2019s forest management associations are moving onto a new digital trading system, but two of the country\u2019s biggest wood buyers \u2014 Mets\u00e4 Group and Stora Enso \u2014 have decided not … Continue reading