The Irish Timber Growers Association (ITGA) private roundwood price database has been in operation since 2005, supplying price information to ITGA members. The association has also periodically supplied these prices to the Irish Farmers Journal for publication.

The ITGA is now launching an expanded price information initiative, Wood Price Quarterly (WPQ), which will be available to all growers and will also be made available immediately after compilation to the Irish Farmers Journal for publication.

The project will continue to work with the forestry section in UCD through its role in confidentially compiling the price information which is sourced from timber growers and their forest managers. In developing this initiative, the association has outlined that if any grower, forestry company or consultant forester has roundwood sales information, Dr Aine Ni Dhubhain in the forestry section, would be grateful to receive this in strict confidence for compiling and averaging with all other price information received.

The more price information gathered in compiling the WPQ data, the more representative it will be for all timber growers. The Irish Farmers Journal will then publish these prices as they become available for readers. Prices will be summarised in the ITGA Forestry & Timber Yearbook (www.forestryyearbook.ie). This initiative was launched in response to the “priority one” recommendation in the COFORD Wood Mobilisation Group report, ‘‘Mobilising Ireland’s forest resource’’.

If you wish to receive standard forms for submitting prices to this WPQ initiative for returning to UCD, please email roundwooddatabase@ucd.ie or contact the ITGA at email info@itga.ie or see www.itga.ie for further information.

Work to establish the WPQ is part-supported by the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Donal Whelan is technical director of the ITGA.