Too little frost and rising energy prices: In addition to gas and fuel, firewood has also become more expensive. The situation on the Main Franconian firewood market is restless. Which factors are influencing? And what can consumers do? Experts from the region provide answers to these and other questions.
What is the situation on the regional firewood market?
The situation in Mainfranken is currently slightly tense. Demand is higher than normal in some places, but many retailers are having delivery problems. The latter is mainly due to the fact that the foresters have not been able to get any wood from the forests in the past few weeks due to the weather.
“It’s nothing new that we can’t get the wood out,” says Michael Grimm, head of the forest department of the Office for Food, Agriculture and Forestry (AELF) Kitzingen-Würzburg. However, the increased energy prices overwhelmed the market. This creates panic in some people. “Of course that heats up the market,” explains Grimm. “But that doesn’t mean there’s no more firewood.”
The fact that the demand for firewood is high at this time of year is partly normal, explains Wolfgang Grimm, head of the forestry department at AELF Karlstadt. “People are now putting the wood on for the winter after next,” he says. So it’s less about acute heating and more about a normal precautionary process, since the fresh firewood first has to dry.
Why can only little wood be fetched from the forest?
It rained a lot this winter. This is good for the health of the forest, especially after the very dry years of the recent past. But since there was too little frost, the ground is too wet in many places – and therefore not passable without damaging it.
According to Michael Grimm, for the forest floor to freeze over enough to support the heavy forestry machines, temperatures of down to minus ten degrees are needed for at least two weeks at night. But that didn’t happen in February. And accordingly, the forest workers could not move the felled wood out of the forest. “Twenty years ago we always had longer periods of frost,” remembers Grimm. “But due to climate change, we no longer have them.”
In some places in Mainfranken forest workers are already moving wood again, in the Steigerwald for example. “The spring air is warm and dry. This dries out the topsoil and improves trafficability,” explains Johannes Neubauer, Managing Director of the Schweinfurt forest management association. Due to the frosty nights of the last few days, you can drive unhindered in the forest, at least in the first hours of the morning.
How is the situation regarding firewood developing?
Due to the lack of frost, everything is delayed. How much depends on the region and is difficult to estimate. The weather and the type of soil determine when the forest workers can move again. Rocky soils dry faster, clay soils more slowly. The hillside location and solar radiation also play a role. In addition, the trees begin to pull the water out of the ground as soon as it gets warmer.
Where are the firewood prices going in the region?
According to the experts, firewood prices will continue to rise. Depending on the tree species and region, by five to ten percent. The reason for this is the generally rising energy prices, especially for diesel. According to Michael Grimm, wood prices are now again at a good level for forest owners. Because of the large amount of damaged wood in recent years, these were too low for an economically sustainable operation.
What options do consumers have when buying firewood?
According to Christoph Riegert, head of the Arnstein forestry operation (Main-Spessart district), there are various ways of getting firewood. Increasingly popular with private individuals is the wood that lies ready-made on the forest path. The traders also buy this and process it into logs.
In the state forests that Riegert looks after, you can also process the firewood yourself in the forest and bring it to the path. “In many places we are seeing a decline in demand for the so-called area lot,” says Riegert. “Many are no longer willing to go to the trouble of processing the wood in the forest areas.”
You can also fell trees yourself. This is possible in areas that have been specifically selected and marked by the forest rangers. For reasons of occupational safety and forestry, there are only a few of them. But according to Riegert, fewer and fewer people are willing to fell these trees.
Interesting facts about firewood
types of wood: Firewood is available from both deciduous and coniferous trees. Hardwood from deciduous trees such as beech, oak or ash is more popular and expensive because it has a better calorific value than spruce, for example. The calorific value of beech is around 2100 kilowatt hours per cubic meter, while spruce only has 1500.
Units: Firewood is usually sold in stores as bulk cubic metres. A loose cubic meter (SRM) refers to loosely poured – i.e. not neatly stacked – logs (33 centimeters long) in a container with an edge length of one meter each. One SRM corresponds to the amount of 0.7 to 0.8 sters. Ster (also called cubic meter), in turn, is a cubic meter of stacked wood (meter logs). Units of measurement that are sometimes also used in trade are solid meters and layer cubic metres.
Dry or wet: Firewood can be bought dried – and therefore ready for consumption – or wet. Wet wood is cheaper, but you still have to store it (air dry) for about two years yourself. Because firewood should have a water content of less than 20 percent for heating. This can be measured with special equipment.
vam / aug
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