The Irish Timber Growers’ Association (ITGA) is calling for wood price data from growers, consultant foresters, forestry companies, sawmills and timber buyers.
Since 2005, Prof. Aine Ni Dhubhain, of University College Dublin (UCD) School of Agriculture and Food Science, has been confidentially compiling the price information for an accurate and reliable average roundwood price.
The wood price quarterly (WPQ) is a decision-making tool for the forestry sector. Therefore, private roundwood price information continues to be actively sought.
Wood price quarterly
The WPQ initiative followed on from the ITGA private roundwood price database which has been operating since 2005 and supplied price information to ITGA members as a membership service.
The objective of the WPQ initiative was to make this information available to growers. Along with assisting the sector in achieving Recommendation 18 of ‘mobilising Ireland’s rescource’, as authored by the national council for forest research and development (COFORD) wood mobilisation group.
The COFORD wood mobilisation and forecasting group is a working group of COFORD.
“One of the group’s aims was to update the forecasting system to ensure that the estimates being provided reflect the best available information and practice,” the group said.
The latest price data is for 2020 as the data received for 2021 was insufficient to produce robust average WPQ prices. UCD forestry section said: “We would be grateful to receive private roundwood sales data for compiling.”
For the continued “accurate and reliable” average roundwood price, information will be vital for the development of the forestry sector, according to ITGA.
The association is encouraging more price data from private growers and their forest managers so as to improve this information database for forest owners’ and the wider sector.