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Fastmarkets is pleased to publish the European sawn timber price assessments and market story. The price table below is in pilot phase and we are continuing to recruit price contributors. To find out more about how to get free access to the new European sawn timber prices, please contact Tuomo Neuvonen at tuomo.neuvonen@fastmarkets.com.
European sawn timber markets opened 2026 with cautious sentiment while Nordic exporters navigated a complex landscape shaped by persistent demand weakness, evolving supply dynamics following Storm Johannes and cautiously optimistic projections for potential improvement by the end of the first quarter. The January assessment period reflected a market still characterized by structural headwinds, though with some industry participants expressing measured hope that the worst of the downturn might be stabilizing.
Prices across key European markets were broadly stable in January 2026, though modest shifts were recorded in select grades and destinations. Germany saw the most notable movement, with spruce sawfalling 44-50×150 mm edging up by 3.17% against December’s midpoint, on account of a rise in the lower limit of the range. But the other grades held flat in the German market.
The UK displayed a mixed picture: spruce 44-50×150 mm slipped by 1.64%, while pine grades generally increased, with US 50×150 mm up by 2.40% and V-grade 38×150 mm gaining by 1.72%. France and the Benelux region were the quietest markets, with virtually all grades unchanged month on month, the sole exception being spruce 63×150 mm, which edged down by 0.81%. Overall, the data points to a market in a holding pattern, with no broad directional move in either prices or sentiment while buyers continued to manage inventories conservatively heading into the new year.
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Market sources reported that pricing across major European destinations remained generally aligned with late-2025 levels. French and Benelux market assessments were described as representative of actual trading conditions, with stable fundamentals reflecting balanced supply-demand dynamics in regions where construction activity, while subdued, maintained steadier footing than in some Central European markets.
The UK market continued to represent a significant outlet for select Nordic exporters, with the standard 47-50×150mm pine sawfalling dimension remaining the foundational pricing reference for the market. Sources indicated that this specification serves as the baseline against which other grades and dimensions are priced. The inclusion of spruce sawfalling grades in market assessments was noted as appropriately reflecting actual trading patterns.
Construction-grade C24 timber emerged in market discussions as potentially the largest single export specification to UK markets, though sources noted that C24 pricing can exhibit volatility that sometimes defies conventional market logic. In some periods, planed C24 has traded at levels below unplaned products, creating pricing anomalies that reflect the segment’s complex supply-demand dynamics rather than rational cost structures.
German market activity remained muted, with some Nordic suppliers reporting limited direct exposure to that market during the assessment period. The combination of weak domestic construction demand and continued sawlog cost pressures left German buyers focused on essential procurement rather than inventory building.
Swedish sawmill operators faced particularly challenging conditions entering 2026, with persistently elevated sawlog costs continuing to compress margins despite flat sales volumes. Sawlog prices in Sweden have risen continuously through recent quarters, creating a fundamental profitability challenge for the sector even as demand remained subdued.
Sources indicated that the fourth quarter of 2025 proved especially difficult for Swedish producers, with poor market conditions coinciding with peak cost pressures. But some market participants expressed cautiously optimistic views that conditions could begin improving by the end of the first quarter of 2026, though such projections remained highly tentative given prevailing macroeconomic uncertainty.
The pine-spruce species imbalance that characterized late-2025 markets showed potential signs of evolution. Spruce had been in relatively short supply, driving price premiums for that species and prompting some sawmills to shift production capacity toward pine processing where raw material availability proved more favorable. Sources suggested this imbalance could moderate through early 2026, though Storm Johannes effects added considerable uncertainty to supply projections.
The late December 2025 Storm Johannes, which felled an estimated 8-10 million cubic meters of timber across Sweden with concentration in Gävleborg and Dalarna counties, created highly differentiated impacts across the Nordic sawmilling sector. While industry-wide estimates suggested substantial volumes of storm-damaged timber would require processing, individual producer exposure varied significantly based on forest ownership patterns and geographic positioning.
Vertically integrated producers with substantial forest holdings in less-affected regions experienced minimal direct effect. Some operators reported storm damage limited to 0.1-0.2 million cubic meters on company-owned forestland, representing a fraction of their normal annual harvest volumes of approximately 5 million cubic meters. For such producers, the primary market impact would come indirectly through regional salvage operations affecting southern procurement regions rather than direct forest asset damage.
Market observers anticipated that salvage operations would begin in earnest during the second quarter of 2026, with private forest owners requiring support for harvesting and processing storm-damaged timber. The species composition of felled timber – concentrated primarily in pine (redwood) rather than spruce – could create specific market pressures in pine sawn timber segments already burdened with elevated mill inventories and weak demand fundamentals.
A secondary market effect could emerge if sawmills redirect production capacity toward processing salvaged pine logs, potentially intensifying demand for spruce sawlogs in a market already experiencing relative supply constraints in that species. This reallocation dynamic added another layer of uncertainty to first-half 2026 procurement strategies across the Nordic region.
According to estimates presented at the Wood from Finland Conference (WFFC) in Helsinki in early February, Storm Johannes will likely not affect the market in a major way. But some local imbalances in log supply might occur.
In Sweden, a volume corresponding to roughly 5% of annual log supply was impacted while in Finland the amount would be only roughly 3%. A note made by a major Finnish supplier was that even though there would be significant volumes of log-sized wood felled in the forest, this could be damaged in a way that makes some of the material unsuitable for sawmilling use.
The Nordic sawn timber sector entered 2026 facing a complex interplay of persistent structural challenges and tentative optimism about potential stabilization, according to sources. While the catastrophic demand collapse of 2022-2023 had moderated, meaningful recovery remained elusive while European construction activity continued to lag historical norms due to elevated financing costs, weakened consumer confidence and sluggish commercial building pipelines.
January market activity started slower than some participants anticipated, with importers appearing to have learned cautionary lessons from 2025’s spring buying surge that left some holders overextended when summer demand failed to materialize. This conservative positioning reflected rational inventory management in an environment of continued macroeconomic uncertainty rather than fundamental pessimism about longer-term prospects.
Sources expressed cautiously optimistic views that market conditions could show improvement by the end of the first quarter of 2026, though such projections remained highly conditional on broader economic developments and construction sector recovery. The combination of Storm Johannes supply uncertainties, evolving species availability dynamics and persistent cost pressures suggested that Nordic producers would continue navigating challenging conditions through at least the first half of the year.
The ongoing industry restructuring across the Nordic region, characterized by capacity adjustments, operational consolidations and strategic repositioning, continued to shape sector dynamics. Producers focused on aligning production with subdued demand levels while preserving financial flexibility to respond when market conditions eventually improve. The sector’s ability to maintain operational readiness while managing through an extended period of weak fundamentals would prove critical to positioning for eventual recovery when European construction markets regain momentum.
A dedicated workshop on European markets held at WFFC 2026 in Helsinki painted a picture of stabilization rather than recovery across five key destination markets reviewed – Germany and Austria, France, the UK, Estonia and the Netherlands. Housing remained the principal demand brake in all markets, partly offset by steadier activity in renovation, non-residential and civil engineering segments. Supply chains reshaped by the 2022 loss of Russian and Belarusian timber have hardened into a new normal, with Finland emerging as a significantly enlarged supplier in several markets, notably Estonia where it now holds around two-thirds of import volumes.
Buyers across markets are tightening specifications, requiring sustainability documentation such as environmental product declarations (EPDs) and life cycle assessments (LCAs), and moving toward leaner, more frequent replenishment models – trends most sharply visible in the UK, where hand-to-mouth purchasing with 24–48-hour replenishment windows has become standard. The Netherlands highlighted a persistent shortage of 6-metre lengths and growing demand for C24 rough-sawn timber as specific product opportunities. France and the DACH region pointed to engineered wood – CLT, glulam and I-beams – as the steadiest growth segment, underpinned by low-carbon building policy.
The overarching conclusion from the WFFC2026 workshop was that 2026 will reward precision over volume: suppliers able to meet tighter technical, documentation and logistical requirements are better positioned than those competing on price alone.
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