The splitting machine at Ramnes Ved in Re municipality throws out logs after logs at the same pace as a banknote press. Rocks of firewood are stacked on rows of pallets that are to be driven out to Norwegians with electricity price anxiety.
Now the wood market is on fire.
– It was on Wednesday. Then there was a focus on high electricity prices in the media. And then just “boff”, then the wood market exploded. And it was not just with me, it was with all other suppliers and, says wood producer Nils-Regin Bøhle.
Difficult to handle
Bøhle has busy days on the farm in Vestfold. Together with the father and the son, they try to the best of their ability to respond to the wave of inquiries from everyone who wants to secure wood for the autumn and winter.
– FULL FIRE: The demand for firewood has never been so great so early in the fall. Photo: Tommy Storhaug / TV 2
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– The phone rings all the time, and if I’m out with a load, there will be thirty new emails when I return. It is the case that it is difficult to handle eventually, he says.
Sold out in September
Many wood producers set up a warehouse with firewood that dries through the summer. These were hardly prepared for windless and low wind power in Europe, failing gas supply from Russia, and increased prices for CO2 quotas on gas and coal power. This has pushed electricity prices to the ceiling, also in Norway.
The record-breaking demand for firewood has simply led to suppliers being sold out, long before the autumn cold creeps up from the living room floor.
Technical manager Øyvind Stranna Larsen in the producer organization Norsk ved confirms that some producers are sold out for firewood already this September, but that it should be easy to get firewood for the time being.
– DRYING TUNNEL: With vacuum and heat, the wood is dried in thirty hours. Photo: Tommy Storhaug / TV 2
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Will sell for millions
For those who manage to deliver, make good money now. Bøhle is one of them.
– I will probably sell a couple of thousand such large pallets before Christmas. It could be a sale of maybe five million kroner. It is much…
– You expect double turnover?
– Yes, if I can handle it.
He says it may be possible to achieve such numbers during an entire winter, if it is long and cold. But what he sees now he has not experienced before.
Drying tunnel
– It’s not autumn holiday yet! It is the middle of September, and last week it was thirty degrees here, he says, shaking his head slightly.
To be able to deliver a lot of wood at short notice, Bøhle has invested in an airtight drying tunnel for the fresh and moist wood.
With the help of a vacuum, he can with a heat of 60 degrees extract all moisture from three tons of logs in just 30 hours. This means that he is independent of having a warehouse that has been dried throughout the summer.
– But it requires energy?
– Yes, it requires a lot of energy. Power, unfortunately.
– SATURATIVE MARKET: The wood farmer in Vestfold is unable to deliver enough Photo: Tommy Storhaug / TV 2
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Twenty-four hours a day
From early morning until late evening, he loads pallets onto the truck with one of the forklifts in the yard. He does not get enough delivered, even though he is one of the country’s largest suppliers.
– Is the market completely insatiable now?
– Everyone who drives by can drive twenty-four hours a day if they want. In any case, we are not able to produce enough and handle all the inquiries. We just can not do that, he says.
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