Storm-damaged timber from Johannes continues to reach Swedish mills, maintaining high raw material supply after the summer. The situation could reverse towards the end of the year, however, with southern Sweden facing tighter log availability once salvage operations are completed.<\/p>\n
Sweden\u2019s timber market remains uncertain, with weak demand for lumber, pulp and paper continuing to put pressure on mills and raw material prices. Timber prices have fallen substantially across assortments, although there are indications that conditions could improve.<\/p>\n
Pine log surplus persists<\/strong><\/p>\n The Johannes salvage operation is still underway and has produced more large-diameter pine than initially expected. This resulted in a substantial surplus of pine sawlogs during the spring, while additional pulpwood volumes were smaller than anticipated.<\/p>\n Quality is now becoming a bigger concern. Salvaged timber has so far avoided major deterioration, but blue stain in pine is expected to increase during the autumn. Some sawmills are processing blue-stained pine into lumber for export to the US, while timber falling below sawlog specifications will increasingly be downgraded to pulpwood.<\/p>\n The rapid mobilisation of harvesting capacity after Johannes also created logistical bottlenecks. Machines were brought into affected regions from other parts of Sweden, Finland and the Baltic countries, but timber transport and receiving capacity failed to keep pace. Roadside inventories became excessive in some areas, while truck, port and mill capacity limited the movement of storm wood.<\/p>\n Log shortage possible by year-end<\/strong><\/p>\n Most of the Johannes salvage operation is expected to be completed around Christmas. Once these exceptional volumes disappear, the supply situation could tighten relatively quickly, particularly in southern Sweden.<\/p>\n Regular harvesting notifications have remained low during 2026 outside storm-damaged forests. Many forest owners have held back as timber prices declined, potentially leaving mills with a thinner supply of fresh logs during the winter.<\/p>\n A shortage could push timber prices higher again, but sawmills would have limited room to absorb another increase in raw material costs while lumber markets remain weak. Some mills could reduce or stop production if log prices rise beyond levels supported by lumber revenues.<\/p>\n Sweden could therefore enter the winter with a very different raw material market from the one seen after Johannes: the large surplus of storm-damaged pine is gradually being absorbed, while supplies from normal harvesting remain low.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Storm-damaged timber from Johannes continues to reach Swedish mills, maintaining high raw material supply after the summer. The situation could reverse towards the end of the year, however, with southern Sweden facing tighter log availability once salvage operations are completed.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n