Timber Price Indices

The latest National Statistics on Timber Price Indices produced by the Forestry Commission were released on 14 November 2019 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Timber Price Indices are based on sales by Forestry England, Forestry and Land Scotland and Natural Resources Wales and consist of the Coniferous Standing Sales Price Index and the Softwood Sawlog Price Index. They present data to September 2019 for Great Britain.

The key points from the latest release are:

• In the Coniferous Standing Sales Price Index:
• There has been an overall increase in the index over the last 15 years, following an overall decrease in earlier years.
• The index was 1.7% lower in real terms (0.1% higher in nominal terms) in the year to September 2019, compared with the previous year.
• The average price for coniferous standing sales was £30.87 per cubic metre overbark standing in nominal terms in the year to September 2019, an increase from £30.26 in the year to September 2018.  
• In the Softwood Sawlog Price Index:
• The index was 4.7% lower in real terms (2.8% lower in nominal terms) in the 6 months to September 2019, compared with the corresponding period of the previous year.
• The average price for softwood sawlog sales was £54.54 per cubic metre overbark in nominal terms in the 6 month period to September 2019, a decrease from £65.23 in the 6 months to March 2019 and £56.11 in the 6 months to September 2018.

Coverage: Great Britain

Geographical breakdown: None

First Release:

Timber Price Indices: Data to September 2019

Data:
Tables in Excel format

Longer time series data for the Coniferous Standing Sales Price Index, for years ending March 1985 to September 2019, are available in EXCEL spreadsheet and PDF formats. The data also give underlying figures for volumes, total prices and average prices by average tree size in Great Britain.

Quality:

Quality Report: Timber Price Indices

Methodology Paper (August 2008):

Methodology for the Coniferous Standing Sales Price Index

Statistician: Sheila Ward

Contact: Robert Stagg

Tel: 0300 067 5238

E-mail: statistics@forestresearch.gov.uk

Next update:

14 May 2020 (data to March 2020)

19 November 2020 (data to September 2020)

Pre-release access:

Information on pre-release access to these publications can be found in the pre-release access pages.