Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE) has noted a continuous decrease in prices for industrial timber. As spokesperson for BUCE, Roman Yaniv, explained to Belarus News, “In Q4 2021, the price for round timber in the domestic market continued to decline. For example, prices for high-quality softwood of A and B grades plummeted by an average of 35%, and low-quality timber by 30%.”
BUCE is a mercantile exchange based in Belarus and Eastern Europe, assisting Belarusian companies with exporting their products and assisting foreign companies with entering the Belarusian market. BUCE analysts explained that the decrease was caused mainly by annual auctions in timber. Compared to previous years of 40% of planned annual volume, 60% is now put up for sale during the auction. BUCE also applied a new bidding mechanism that does not restrict the number of participants, which means manufacturers of different types of products would not have to compete with each other for timber. Hence, this prevented an increase in prices for the resource.
According to Belarus News, the prices for industrial timber stabilised by the end of 2021, and the decline in quotations was insignificant as in October and November 2021. Prices of round hardwood decreased by 5% in December over November, depending on the variety, diameter and delivery. High-quality softwood of A and B grades went down by 6%, and low-quality raw materials of coniferous species of grades C and D by 5%.
BUCE expressed optimism that the price fluctuations in the domestic market will now be minimal with the current ratio of supply to demand, especially when main consumers have satisfied their demands. “Based on this, we expect that prices for round timber for domestic buyers will not fundamentally change,” they said.
Source: Belarus News (BelTA)
