Forestry owners are struggling to move timber at the moment, due to the flood of trees harvested from windblown plantations.

Low-grade timber going for pulpwood is particularly hard to move, with prices reported to have dropped by around €4/t to €32-34/t.

IFA farm forestry chair Padraig Stapleton said there was mounting concern that disposing of sawmill residues, such as sawdust and woodchip, was proving a major stumbling block to the harvesting of windblown timber.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The influx of pulp wood flooding the home market and the excess sawmill byproducts generated post storm Éowyn is slowing down sawmill production at a critical time to salvage windblown timber,” said Stapleton.

Bord na Móna maintained that it was still taking local pulpwood and woodchip for its Edenderry power plant.

“A combination of biomass materials is needed at Edenderry to produce the correct fuel mix for power generation,” a spokesman for Bord na Móna said.

“Bord na Móna sources the vast majority of sustainable, residual material from indigenous suppliers in Ireland,” he insisted.

“When the remaining biomass required cannot be acquired locally due to volume or suitability constraints, it is supplemented with material sourced internationally,” the spokesman said.

However, Bord na Móna did not respond when asked what tonnage of woodchip and/or wood pellet the company had imported this year.

The company also failed to respond when asked if it had cut the price of pulpwood and wood chip recently. John Roche of Arbor Forest Management said the current difficulties in getting timber processed were temporary, and directly related to the volume of product being harvested from windblown plantations.

“Timber output this year is way up as a result of storm Éowyn,” Roche pointed out.

“And it will take a while for the excess volume to be processed and taken by the market. This situation could continue into next year,” he predicted.

“A lot of progress has been made but a significant proportion of storm-damaged plantations have yet to be harvested,” Roche maintained.

Meanwhile, the IFA has expressed frustration that a Forestry Reconstitution Scheme for those plantation owners with windblown sites had not yet been confirmed by the Department of Agriculture.

Minister for State Michael Healy-Rae has stated that provision for such a scheme has been included in the €93m allocated for forestry for 2026.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that a fund of over €11m per year for four years has been earmarked for the reconstitution scheme and it is in the process of being cleared by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

The IFA urged forestry owners with windblown plantations to immediately apply for their clear-felling licences ahead of the reconstitution scheme getting the green light.

Stapleton said plantation owners should apply for the licences “without delay”.