“The main auctions for the third quarter have concluded. Key results:

– Nearly the entire volume of round timber—98%—was contracted. Firewood for industrial use—94%. These are record figures; this has never happened before.

– The strongest price dymanic compared with Q2 was in the alder–birch segment, where average prices per cubic metre reached nearly UAH 8 000. Oak has crossed the “psychological threshold” of UAH 20 000 per m³, and ash prices rose by 30% to UAH 6 600 per m³. Pine and fir prices remained virtually unchanged. On average, price growth for round timber has slowed to approximately 6% compared with Q2.

– Prices for industrial‐use firewood have risen by more than 20%. All segments—coniferous, hardwood, and softwood—have increased by roughly the same margin. Prices for non-industrial fuel wood have climbed on average to UAH 1 550 per m³. This is a signal to the public: don’t wait for autumn—stock up on firewood this summer at the social-price rates that SFE “Forests of Ukraine” keeps stable!

– Important! SFE “Forests of Ukraine” established Q3 starting prices using a new algorithm. This was a step toward supporting business. The starting prices have not only fallen significantly compared to actual sales prices—but for round timber they have even decreased relative to the Q2 starting prices (see infographic)! However, as we can see, auction participants quickly restored the balance—once again confirming that in an open market under free competition, the starting price does not influence the final sale price.

I can’t help but mention the forward auctions for the second half of the year, which were held prior to the main Q3 auctions.

For the forward auctions, as promised, we offered 30% of the planned harvest. In the end, 96% of round timber and 91% of industrial‐use firewood were contracted.

But the key takeaway is that the forward‐auction winners didn’t lose out. Most product categories—starting with industrial-use firewood—saw price increases in the Q3 auctions.

Thus, the semiannual forward auctions we introduced have given wood processors a genuine opportunity to plan production by securing both the price and the volume of the resource”, said Yurii Bolokhovets.