The auctions for timber with six-month forward contracts for the second half of 2025 have been completed.
Compared to last year’s “pilot” six-month auctions, a significantly larger volume of timber resources was offered this time, including nearly all types of roundwood.
Out of the proposed 1.56 million m³ of timber (compared to 416 thousand m³ offered for the first half of 2025), a total of 1.45 million m³ was sold. Bidders contracted 93% of the available volume: 96% of roundwood and 91% of industrial fuelwood.
As a result of meetings with the business community, SFE “Forests of Ukraine” introduced a new algorithm for setting starting prices (both for semi-annual and quarterly auctions).
Therefore, starting prices at the semi-annual auctions were, in most cases, significantly below market level. However, as previously noted, this did not affect the auction outcomes. The final price, as always, was determined solely by the balance of supply and demand.
In the alder and birch segment, starting prices were twice as low as the current market level, but during the auctions they increased by 107–133%, reaching nearly UAH 8,000 per m³.
For round pine, with the current May market price at UAH 4,100 per m³, auctions started at UAH 3,600 per m³. In the course of bidding, prices returned to the market level — UAH 4,100 per m³.
Coniferous industrial fuelwood (pine) — with the current market price at UAH 1,370 per m³, bidding started at UAH 1,170 per m³ and ultimately rose to UAH 1,540 per m³.
In parallel with the semi-annual auctions, quarterly timber auctions (for Q3 2025) were also launched. These are still ongoing, and results will be reported separately.
Summary:
1.Strong business interest in six-month contracts confirms that SFE “Forests of Ukraine” is moving in the right direction. Starting next year, we will introduce annual contracts for the first time, enabling market participants to secure the necessary volumes of timber and plan their production processes with greater certainty.
2.Regardless of how much you experiment with starting prices, the situation in each individual segment is defined by current market conditions. When there is demand, prices during the auctions can double or even triple.
3.Artificially lowering the starting price leads to the opposite effect — it creates a rush of demand that drives prices up.
4.Demand for timber remains high, which makes SFE “Forests of Ukraine” proposals to amend the legal and regulatory framework that restricts timber harvesting even more relevant.