A major European timber trading firm plans to export 30,000 cubic metres of logs from Irish forests by the end of May.

In a move which could shake up the forestry sector here, the firm confirmed that it will seek to purchase and export up to 20% of the 10-12m cubic metres of timber felled during storms Éowyn and Darragh.

JJK Forests Fornello is a major player in the timber business in Scandinavia and the Baltic states.

Its Irish operations will be handled by LJR Forestry which is headed up by Canadian national Lee Johnson.

Johnson confirmed that LJR Forestry currently has two harvesters and forwarders working in plantations in the northeast of the country.

The company aims to have two more sets of forwarders and harvesters ready to start work next week, and plans to grow the harvesting team to “a minimum of 20 sets”.

LJR Forestry has already signed contracts to purchase around 100,000m3 of timber from 250ha of plantations in the northeast.

“These are in-hand signed contracts,” Johnson said.

The Canadian native, who has just relocated to Ireland with his family, is confident that a lot more contracts will be signed in the coming weeks, given the scale of the windblow problem.

The Irish wood will be exported as logs to markets right across Europe, with Germany expected to be a key export outlet.

Vessels to transport the timber “have been confirmed”, Johnson said, with the first ship to depart from Drogheda in the coming weeks.

The company will also use the ports of Foynes in Limerick, Sligo and Killybegs in Donegal to ship logs.

The firm is dealing with a mix of private forestry owners and management companies, and Johnson added that most were receptive to the concept of selling for export.

Local sawmills

“Exports are good for the farmer. They keep the local sawmills honest. It gives the farmer another option and brings international prices to the local market,” Johnson said.

While Johnson would not disclose what LJR Forestry is paying for timber, he claimed that it would be “as much and typically more than local mills”.

In recent weeks, sawlog was making €80-90/t at roadside, with pallet wood making €70/t and stake-wood €40/t to €45/t.

Uniquely, LJR Forestry will also buy the timber by volume rather than by weight which is traditionally the case in Ireland. Enda Keane of Treemetrics, the firm that is managing the collecting and collation of harvesting data for the plantation owners and LJR Forestry, described this move as “hugely significant” for Irish forestry owners.

Meanwhile, Johnson stressed that “not one stick of wood will leave the country without farmers being paid”.

Asked how much timber LJR Forestry could export from Ireland in the next 15 months, Jennings said he was “gearing up to do two million cubic metres”.

“I don’t know if I’ll quite make it, but the wood is here and it needs to go somewhere,” he said.

Derek McCabe of the Irish Forest Owners described the entry of LJR Forestry into the market as a “game changer”.

He claimed the move could result in forest owners getting “a true transparent price for their timber”.