Costs for measures in large-scale forestry 2023

The cost of harvesting (felling and extraction to roadside) increased by 9 percent in 2023, according to new statistics from the Swedish Forest Agency and Skogforsk. Costs for regeneration harvests have risen every year since 2017, in total by by 39 percentl. The producer price index has increased by 41 percent during the same period.

Costs for regeneration felling

Costs for regeneration felling remained relatively unchanged until the storm Gudrun in 2005 when the costs rose sharply in southern Sweden. From 2008, costs for regeneration felling have been higher in northern Sweden than in southern Sweden. The costs have increased every year since 2017. In 2023, the average cost for regeneration felling for the entire country was 134 SEK per cubic metre solid under bark (m3s ub), an increase of 48 percent since the start of the statistics in 1996.

The costs for regeneration felling also include more complicated fellings due to forest damage, the cost of extraction of wood to the roadside, and overhead costs. Overhead costs refer to costs shared by several harvesting sites, for example moving machinery. The costs refer to a volume weighted cost for felling.

Ownership and more complicated felling

The statistics are divided into costs for fellings in forest owned by the forest company itself, forest owned by others, and more complicated felling due to forest damage. The differences in costs between forest owned by the forest company itself and forest owned by others are in general small, while the more complicated felling due to forest damage are more expensive.

The overall average cost for regeneration felling is affected by the higher costs associated with more complicated felling due to forest damage. In the statistics presented here, forest damage refers to fire, storms, and damage by insects and fungus. During 2023, the more complicated fellings due to forest damage were about 60 percent more expensive in damaged forest compared to normal fellings in forest not affected by damage. An explanation for the increase in cost per cubic metre for the more complicated fellings is that the share of volume from fellings due to spruce bark beetle has decreased while the felling of younger damaged forest has increased. Hence, both the harvested volume per hectare and the mean trunk volume has decreased in the more complicated fellings due to forest damage in 2023.

Costs for thinning

Since the thinned trees are smaller and the felled volume per hectare is lower, the cost per cubic metre is almost twice as high for thinning compared to regeneration felling. The costs for thinning remained relatively unchanged until 2006 and were approximately 150 SEK per m3s ub. After that, the costs increased by 50 SEK per m³s ub during the period 2006 until 2012. Following this, costs for thinning increased by 20 SEK per m³s ub during the period 2012-2020. In recent years costs for thinning have increased more sharply and by 2023 they were, on average for the entire country, 269 SEK per m3s ub. In general, costs for thinning have been somewhat lower in northern Sweden than in southern Sweden but as of 2021, they are on the same level. The costs for thinning also have a more consistent development than the cost for regeneration felling, the latter varying more from one year to another.

The costs for thinning include felling, extraction to roadside, and overhead costs (all to roadside). Similarly to the costs for regeneration felling, the costs for thinning refers to a volume weighted average, including costs for felling of forest damaged by storms or fire.

Costs for all felling

Costs for all felling is a volume weighted average for both regeneration felling and thinning, as presented above. In figure 4 below, the effect of the storm Gudrun in 2005 is clearly visible. From 2007 and onwards the costs for all felling show an increasing trend.

Since the estimates are volume weighted, the average for all felling might decrease for an individual year despite the fact that both costs for regeneration felling and thinning have increased. That could occur for example if the share of volume from  regeneration felling increases, as regeneration felling is less expensive per cubic metre than thinning. The average cost for all felling is closer to regeneration felling than the cost for thinning. This is a consequence of much larger volumes of regeneration felling than the volume being thinned every year. The volume-weighted cost for all felling in the entire country for 2023 were 168 SEK per m3s ub.

Costs in relation to inflation

Costs for felling can be put in relation to the other price trends in the economy to better take inflation into account. Below you can find three index series for comparison.

• Consumer Price Index (CPI) which is the official measure of inflation.
• Producer Price Index (PPI) which shows the average price trend at the producer and import stage, in the figure below only for the production of goods.
• Producer Price Index home sales (HMPI) which measures the price development of products produced by Swedish companies for sale in Sweden (the figure below only refers to industry and production of minerals excluding food production).

In figure 5, the base year for the three different index series is 1996. The average for all felling (both regeneration felling and thinning) in current prices is also added after being indexed with the same base year. The two different index series that measure prices at the producer level have a greater increase than the consumer price index and the costs for felling from 1996 to 2023.

In figure 6 there is a conversion to fixed prices using the CPI, to the price level of 2023. The costs for regeneration felling had a downward trend until the storm of 2005 and costs for thinning until 2007, after adjusting for inflation. In 2008 and 2009 the costs for thinning increased without a corresponding increase in costs for regeneration felling. The costs for regeneration felling in 2023 are, despite periods of decline and increase, marginally lower than 1996 in constant prices.

Costs for silvicultural measures and pre-commercial thinning

Costs for silvicultural measures and pre-commercial thinning includes clear-cut cleaning, scarification, planting, sowing, beeting, pre-commercial thinning, fertilization and liming, prescribed clear-cutting burns, and undergrowth clearing. The figures are area weighted and refers to measures in forest owned by the forest company.

In terms of trends, the cost trend is rising for silvicultural measures but some, such as prescribed clear-cutting burns, fertilization and liming, beeting and sowing show a more varied development. The most common measures such as plantation, clear-cut cleaning and pre-commercial thinning show a steadily increasing trend over several years while the costs for scarification have been stable or somewhat decreased.

The most expensive measures are planting and sowing which costs about 7,050 SEK per hectare respective 5,870 SEK per hectare. Clear-cut cleaning has the lowest cost per hectare, just under 1,840 SEK, while pre-commercial thinning, fertilization and liming and scarification all range between 3,000 to 4,000 SEK per hectare.

Costs for forest roads

The Swedish Forest Agency and Skogforsk also examine the costs of new construction/refurbishment and maintenance of forest roads. The survey's respondents find it difficult to submit sections of the road in kilometer and the reported costs are therefore related to volume of sold roundwood. Costs may vary between years, but the trend shows rising costs per cubic metre since 2004 for maintenance and from 2007 for new investments. Both have increased by 90 percent since 2017.