New Zealand Log Prices - April 2013

Friday 26 Apr 2013

In-market log prices have received a healthy boost this month to be up by around 6%. Prices of over US$146/JAS for A-grade logs and over US140/JAS for K-grade logs have not been seen since June 2011 and have now increased by 16-17% year-on-year. Pruned logs are selling for an average of US$184/JAS, up US$7/tonne from last month.

Prices are continuing upwards based on the stronger data on housing in the US which has been driving up lumber prices. This is causing many sawmills in the US to increase production in anticipation of a rapid rise in demand for timber. In China sawmills are increasing imports to secure volume, which is lifting import prices, though this hasn’t been flowing through to its domestic market. This means that prices may not continue to rise at the same pace, though for now there is high confidence within China and New Zealand and this is contributing to an increasing price trend.

As China is still importing high volumes from the Pacific North West as well as New Zealand there is a huge influx of supply and is leading to busy ports and queues for port access. Currently though there is no inventory building and demand is well balanced. So unless there are any large price changes from here there should be a soft landing into the quieter rainy season in the third quarter. The Agrifax log price indicator is up by 4 points to 94 this month due to large increases in both export and domestic log markets. As expected this month the domestic log market has had to increase prices in order to secure supply in the face of rapidly increasing export log prices.

Structural prices are up the highest, moving $7/tonne on average across the country. There has been a large increase in the in-market prices in China, though this has been reduced slightly at the wharf gate by a slight increase in shipping prices and a strengthening New Zealand dollar.

K-grade logs have had a $9/tonne increase on average to be at NZ$103/tonne. This has seen the unpruned log index gain 6 points this month to reach 102 which, along with the combined indicator, has reached the highest level it has been since May 2011.

North Island
  • Domestic: Up
  • Export: Up
South Island
  • Domestic: Up
  • Export: Up
For more detailed reports contact NZX Agrifax at www.nzxagri.com/agrifax

The Agrifax log price data is a weighted average of prices collected each month from a range of New Zealand log buyers and sellers. Log prices shown in the table will vary regionally and by supplier and should only be used to provide a broad trend of log price movements.
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