Timber industry warns of major shortages. Ransfords prioritises existing customers.

The Timber Trade Federation has again warned of major challenges ahead for timber users in Q3 2021, as the balance between supply and demand continues to tighten. Suppliers from Sweden have warned that current stock levels are at their lowest in over 20 years – despite record levels of production from the Swedish sawmill industry.

The supply and demand balance for Q2 2021 means that almost all wood arriving in the UK has been presold to customers. Despite strict allocations, most buyers are already unable to purchase all the timber they want for their business.

‘Q3 will be the most difficult part of the year for timber shortages’ TTF technical and trade manager, Nick Boulton, has said.

The pressures arising from the situation in Sweden are matched by unprecedented demand for home-grown and home-milled Great British Timber from Ransfords. The demand has led to a flood of enquiries from new contacts but our response is to stand by existing customers in order to ensure them continuity of supply. Even so, we are having to ask all customers to bear with us as we manage the situation and to accept that our delivery timescales will be longer than usual.

The heightened demand for sawn timber inevitably means that there is upward pressure on the log price, pressure which will ultimately feed through to sawn timber prices.

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