January 2019 Review of Timber Trading

BALTPOOL starts publishing timber price index

BALTPOOL UAB, which is elaborating on the expert evaluation of the timber market, started publishing the Baltpool Timber Spot Lithuania price index from 4 February 2019. The value of Lithuania’s first timber price index depends on the fluctuations in prices of the timber assortments included in the index. The Baltpool Timber Spot Lithuania index is intended to help market participants to objectively evaluate the current market situation and monitor changes and trends in the prices of the most demanded timber assortments. The value of the index will also be a convenient tool for bilateral contract and companies’ local transaction pricing and market research.

The calculation of the Baltpool Timber Spot Lithuania index includes short-term transactions of purchase and sale of timber concluded via the ETTS and concerning the sale of timber assortments, the trade in which last year accounted for 70% of the total ETTS short-term transaction turnover. The reliability of the index and its ability to accurately reflect market changes are guaranteed by the fact that the State Enterprise State Forests Directorate implements sale of timber via the ETTS.

The value of the timber price index is updated every week based on the trade data of short-term transactions concluded via the ETTS in the respective preceding week. The value of the index starting from 19 February 2018 is available and can be viewed on the website of the ETTS administrator at www.baltpool.eu.

Commentary to trade in January 2019

In January 2019, transactions for the sale of 306 m³ of timber under short-term contracts were concluded via the ETTS, which accounted for 2% of the trade volume in December 2018. The financial value of the transactions amounted to EUR 13,792.

No short-term transactions for any one of the TOP5 timber assortments were concluded in January.