Just a note to keep you informed of the current firewood trade.

The construction and commisioning of some very large woodchip powered power plants across the UK is causing significant ripples in the forestry chain. The demand from these plants is extremely high and is consuming huge quantities of our input material. They are consistently outbidding our normal suppliers. This is having a drastic impact on input log prices for us. Some products are forecast to jump as high as 40% more. If you add to this the sharp increase in domestic demand from the high numbers of new stoves being fitted, you can see the pinch

Already huge quantities of hardwood are being sucked in from East European/Russian sources. However the effects of Brexit, and especially the weakening of the pound, is going to increase the cost of those supplies too.

Be assured that we are very active in the market trying to buy at the best price, but we can’t see anything other than price rises in the new year. We have invested in a more efficient firewood processing machine, due in shortly, to do our bit to increase efficiency, but it won’t be enough.

Our advice, as always, is to consider Larch, the best softwood, as an alternative, this is still the best way to decrease the costs of your firewood. Significantly cheaper and with only slightly less heat energy.