Spruce, pine and fir log prices in the B.C. Interior bucked the global trend of falling prices by rising about 10% compared with a year ago, Hakan Ekstrom, president of Wood Resources International LLC, told Business in Vancouver yesterday.
The U.S. racking up its highest homebuilding statistics in June was a large part of the reason, as was a rise in Chinese demand.
Wood Resources International released a report August 20 that showed that the Global Sawlog Price Index (GSPI) declined for the fourth quarter in a row, to US$82.90 per cubic metre.
B.C. sawlogs – which tend to be spruce, pine and fir – have always been priced lower than the global average because of the province's controversial stumpage system – a phenomenon that has spawned numerous battles with the U.S. over softwood lumber prices, Ekstrom noted.
B.C. log prices in the Interior rose to US$51 per cubic metre in the second quarter of 2012. Most of those logs are destined for the U.S. after they are cut into two-by-fours.
"If you look at Douglas fir on the coast, that's usually better quality wood that is cut into bigger dimensions and has more valuable end uses," he said.
