Kevin Mason
In looking across the entire forest products space this year, it is abundantly clear that demand is weak across all segments. There is no expectation of an improvement in 2025 as consumption remains poor and restocking efforts are expected to be limited. As such, any hopes of better supply/demand dynamics are going to come down to supply discipline (slowbacks/downtime/closures). We have some thoughts about how this might play out in the various sectors: Timber and Timberland—Timber harvest guidance will naturally follow wood products demand. Finding a home for pulpwood has been problematic for several years and will only become more difficult amid ongoing downstream capacity shuts. New demand is possible over time, but nothing is expected in the near-term.
Solid Wood—A raft of capacity closures in both Canada and the US had brought the lumber market into better balance to begin 2025. However, with demand weakening further through the first half of 20025 (and given a bleak medium-term outlook), further capacity rationalization will be required to restore balance and lift prices (Canada will be the focus, but the US could also see shuts). In OSB, prices are already at cash- cost levels, demand could slip further in the coming months, and new greenfield capacity is slated for late ’25 and early ’26. Accordingly, closures/downtime are sorely needed. For both lumber and OSB, producers may be awaiting the outcome of the Section 232 investigation before making major changes to operations.
The Albanese Labor Government released a 
New Zealand has a strong story to tell about free trade, farming and renewable forestry resources. …Given the healthy relationship between the US and New Zealand on the trade front, the temporary relief of tariffs on timber and lumber imported into the US has been welcomed. Though we realise that this tariff exemption could be short lived based on the outcome of the Section 232 investigation aimed at determining the global effects imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products have on the US supply chain. As a small niche supplier of wood products that are needed by the US domestic building market, there is a strong argument for keeping New Zealand timber and lumber imports tariff free to avoid any additional price hikes and further supply chain disruptions. …Like many, we now wait for completion of the section. 232 Investigation.
UK softwood traders enjoyed a period of strong trading through the first two months of Q2, supported by a rise in demand gaining momentum through both April and May. This followed on from a stable Q1 when imports increased by just under 2% against the same period in 2024. Since the beginning of this year, a number of Nordic producers were short of spruce logs for structural grades, and in many cases switched to pine. That move had a knock-on effect on the amount of redwood available for production at some mills. With good demand and some shortages, Q2 prices moved upwards, not only to the UK but other markets in Europe and the US as well. However, the UK merchants adopted a more sceptical and cautious approach. Many held back from making longer-term commitments on the forward market to ensure the recovery and stability in the market was sustainable.
Timber and forestry investment is gaining ground in Europe, as private equity increasingly shifts towards climate-aligned strategies. A recent EY report highlights growing momentum behind timber and forestry funds, previously seen as niche, now positioned as core components of sustainability-focused portfolios. Despite global private equity fundraising falling to $680 billion in 2024, the lowest since 2015, investors are favouring fewer, larger deals. Europe is leading in sustainable asset allocation, with over half of all new fund launches in Article 8 and 9 categories under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, according to Morningstar. Timber and forestry funds attracted $8.4 billion in 2024, slightly down from 2023 but above the five-year average. These funds often deliver double-digit internal rates of return, with top-performing vintages exceeding 16 percent.
UK — Housing programmes delivered by Homes England resulted in 38,308 new houses starting on site and 36,872 new homes completed between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. This represents an increase in both starts (by 5%) and completions (by 12%) compared to the same period the previous year. 30,087 of new starts on site were for affordable houses — a 0.6% increase on the previous year, and representing 79% of all starts. …Eamonn Boylan, Chief Executive of Homes England, said: ”The statistics demonstrate the importance of programmes like the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) to enable the delivery of these much-needed homes — and comes hot on the heels of the government committing a further £39 billion in funding to affordable homes over a 10 year period, giving confidence and certainty to the sector.”
GALWAY, Ireland — Minister of State with responsibility for Forestry, Michael Healy-Rae, announced a new report “
The fashion industry is often seen as a voracious, thirsty villain that extracts billions of liters of water out of the environment. …These conditions are the biggest ‘WHY’ for Spinnova, a Finnish startup that works tirelessly to create technology for sustainable natural fibers to match its growing demand. …But before we delve into the details, would you believe the core idea for Spinnova was actually born from… a spiderweb? Back in 2009, Juha Salmela, a cellulose expert from Finland attended an Oxford University conference. He heard a presentation from a leading spider researcher, who explained the similarities between spiderweb’s protein and nanocellulose. And, that happened to be his Eureka moment. What if wood fiber could be spun into textile fiber in a similar manner? Fast forward to 2023, the wood-based Spinnova fiber was born. …The process at Spinnova starts with sourcing cellulose-rich raw materials such as FSC-certified wood pulp.
UK waste wood market processed over 96% of material, annual statistics published this month by the Wood Recyclers’ Association (WRA) showed. The association said that there was “strong demand” for material in 2024. According to the statistics, 4.5 million tonnes of waste wood arose in the UK last year. Of this, 4.33 million tonnes (96%) were sent for reuse, recycling or recovery, the figures showed. The organisation compiled the 2024 figures through its annual survey of members who handle approximately 90% of the market, combining the findings with latest industry data. The figures are somewhat similar to 2023 which saw 97% of the material processed.
Last year, more than 112 thousand hectares of dry forests were listed in the Estonian Natura 2000 habitats. These are forests with minimal anthropogenic load, and in Estonia they are overgrown dunes, old natural forests and spruce forests with rich ground cover. The Estonian Environmental Service, the University of Tartu and the Estonian University of Life Sciences are jointly developing a plan for the maintenance of dry forests. Taavi Tattar, Head of the Nature Conservation Planning Department of the Environmental Service, pointed out that dry forests are in poor condition both in Estonia and throughout Europe. “They’re either too uniform in age or have impoverished structure. Certain species need forests with diverse structures for their life and activities, coarse woody debris, dead trees, and so on. On a broader scale, diverse forests are also more resistant to disease and better able to adapt to climate change,” Tattar said.
A new paper published in 
Brazil once again leads the world in the loss of primary tropical forests. New data shows the country accounted for 42% of global primary rainforest loss in 2024, largely due to widespread fires throughout the nation and in neighboring Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. The 2024 spike in Amazon forest loss was due in large part to one of the worst fire seasons on record. But what’s often missed is the fact that recent fires in tropical primary forests are by no means a “natural” disaster. Rather, the conflagration represents a perfect storm of climate change-induced environmental conditions, governance failures and unchecked, organized criminality. Fires in the Amazon are largely started by arson and related criminal activity accompanying agriculture, logging, mining and road building. In fact, a recent survey of government data concluded that 91% of forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon is linked to illegal activity like land-clearing for agriculture and artisanal mining, often orchestrated by well-structured international criminal enterprises.
A new study in The Journal of Cleaner Production confirms that Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification contributes to maintaining and increasing forest cover, especially in lower-middle income countries. These findings reinforce the conclusions of previous research and provide insights on adapting regional certification strategies to increase sustainable forest management. The study investigated the critical role of FSC certification in promoting sustainable forest management and mitigating deforestation across diverse economic and climatic contexts. Using dynamic panel data model and Generalized Method of Moments estimations on 70 countries from 2000 – 2021, the researchers examined forest cover as a measure for impact of FSC certification. Results indicate that FSC certification contributes to maintaining and increasing forest cover across diverse economic and climatic contexts. This positive impact is most strongly observed in lower-middle income countries. Scaling up certification and integrating it into national policies could benefit countries of this economic category. 
Forestry Australia has welcomed the release of the Federal Government’s Timber Fibre Strategy, congratulating Minister Julie Collins and the Albanese Government for delivering a timely and important roadmap to support a sustainable, world-leading forest and wood products sector. 
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has unveiled a broad package of measures aimed to boosting forest growth and pollution-absorbing carbon sinks. The moves will help Finland reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2035, as required by law and stipulated in the government programme, ministry officials said on Friday. The agency is led by Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sari Essayah, chair of the Christian Democrats. The government of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) approved the financing of forest-related climate measures during its mid-term policy review session last spring and in its second supplementary budget of 2025. The measures include moves to step up fertilisation of forests and expansion of the forest cover in an effort to increase carbon sequestration, in other words woodlands’ capacity to absorb and store carbon from emissions that would otherwise contribute to global warming.
Young forests regrowing from land where mature woodlands have been cut down have a key role to play in removing billions of tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and combating climate change, a new study reveals. …Forest regeneration offers a cost-effective method for carbon removal, but rates vary by location and forest age. Researchers have discovered that young secondary forests, particularly those aged between 20 and 40 years, exhibit the highest rates of carbon removal—locking away up to eight times more carbon per hectare than newly regenerating forests. …Their study reveals that if 800 million hectares of restorable forest begin regenerating in 2025, up to 20.3 billion metric tons of carbon could be removed by 2050, but delays sharply reduce this potential.
The European Commission on Wednesday proposed an EU climate target for 2040 that for the first time will allow countries to use carbon credits from developing nations to meet a limited share of their emissions goal. The European Union executive proposed a legally-binding target to cut net greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040, from 1990 levels – aiming to keep the EU on course for its core climate aim to reach net zero emissions by 2050. But following pushback from governments including France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic, the Commission also proposed flexibilities that would soften the 90% emissions target for European industries. Reflecting Germany’s public stance, up to 3 percentage points of the 2040 target can be covered by carbon credits bought from other countries through a U.N.-backed market, reducing the effort required by domestic industries. 
In an update to the joint UNESCO-WRI-IUCN report 
When Domino’s advertised its “smokehouse” pizzas in 2023, it trumpeted that the meat was smoked over timber logged from “Aussie Mountain ash”. It also advertised that the timber was certified as sustainable. But what the advertising didn’t promote was that mountain ash forests are critically endangered, with logging listed as one of the key processes threatening them. And now the ABC can reveal the certification that assured consumers that logging was sustainable was breached in seven different ways, according to the organisation that accredits certifiers. Those breaches included potentially stealing the trees from the neighbouring state forest, ignoring protections for waterways and logging potential endangered species habitat. “I think Australians should be absolutely appalled that the world’s tallest flowering tree is chipped up to make woodchips to smoke pork bellies to put on pizzas. It’s ridiculous. What are we talking about? Endangered possum pizzas?” Professor Lindenmayer said.
Naturally-regenerating forests are often ignored by policymakers working to curb climate change even though they hold an untapped potential to rapidly absorb planet-warming carbon from the atmosphere, scientists found in a research paper published Tuesday. These so-called secondary forests, which have regenerated themselves after being razed, often for agriculture, can help bring the world closer to the net-zero emissions target needed to slow global warming, the research published in the journal shows. That is because these young forests, which are made of trees between two and four decades old, can remove carbon from the atmosphere up to eight times faster per hectare than forests that were just planted, they found. It comes as companies worldwide are raising millions of dollars to regrow forests from scratch to generate carbon credits they can sell to polluting industries seeking to offset their greenhouse gas emissions.
Judges across the world are proving sceptical of companies’ attempts to offset their greenhouse gas emissions by buying carbon credits, 
More than 15,000 residents of Marseille confined to their homes have been allowed out after a wildfire on the outskirts of France’s second city was brought under control, but officials have warned the country faces an exceptionally high-risk summer. Fanned by gale-force winds and kindled by parched vegetation, several fires have burned swathes of southern France in recent days, including Tuesday’s just north of the port city. The weather service has said the weeks ahead could be critical. “The fire is receding, but with a blaze this severe, over this big an area, it’s clear there may be fresh flare-ups, flames can jump, embers can reignite,” the prefect of the Bouches-du-Rhône department, Georges-François Leclerc, said on Wednesday.
Firefighters across Europe continue to battle forest fires amid blistering heatwaves, as blazes broke out in Germany, Greece and Turkey on Saturday. Hundreds of German firefighters have been battling blazes for days in the forested regions of Thuringia and Saxony, including the Gohrischheide nature reserve near the Brandenburg border. …Firefighters in Greece made progress in containing a wildfire that broke out on Friday afternoon in eastern Attica. …Strong winds and dry conditions have raised the risk of wildfires across Greece, prompting heightened vigilance by emergency services. In Turkey, firefighters have reportedly brought several large wildfires under control in the western Izmir province. …Ground crews, supported by planes and helicopters, worked around the clock for three days to contain the fires, according to the Turkish forestry directorate. …Turkey also reportedly sent two aircraft and 11 fire engines along with support vehicles to Syria on Saturday to help in the firefighting efforts there.
ISTANBUL/PARIS/BRUSSELS – Firefighters battled wildfires in Turkey and France on Monday and more than 50,000 people were evacuated as an early summer heatwave hit Europe. Health alerts were issued in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Germany. Even the Netherlands, used to a milder climate, issued a warning for high temperatures in the coming days, coupled with high humidity. “Large parts of Western Europe are experiencing extreme heat and heatwave conditions that are normally observed in July or August, rather than June,” said the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. …In Turkey, wildfires raged for a second day in the western province of Izmir, fanned by strong winds, Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said. More than 50,000 people have been evacuated from five regions, including more than 42,000 in Izmir, Turkey’s AFAD emergency management authority said.