Over the past year, all kinds of prices in Estonia have seen largely sharp increases – but lumber prices have halved. Behind this particular drop is the same factor troubling the entire construction and real estate sectors – the high Euribor, which has dealt a blow to demand from which there is no quick recovery in sight.
Toomas Tauk, managing director of lumber retailer Puumarket, said that lumber is nearly 50 percent cheaper than it was this time last year due to the decrease in local and especially Scandinavian construction volumes.
“The price of wood moved in the exact opposite direction to overall inflation, and came to a halt over the summer,” said Tauk. “While the last six months were marked by a clear oversupply of wood, by now production volumes have been reduced, and it looks like prices have either bottomed out or did so in the fall.”
Should prices go up in the new year, it won’t be by much, and no major price increases are foreseen for at least the first half of the year, he continued.
According to the managing director, major manufacturers are still keeping their factories open despite the decline in demand and profit margins; production volumes are adjusted according to demand as they await the next economic upswing.
Read more: ERR.EE