Bergs Timber will be reducing the output of spruce sawnwood from its Swedish sawmills by 35,000 m³ over the next few months. The cut equates to roughly 6 % of the Swedish works’ capacity and 4 % of the group’s annual output. According to a release dated 4 October, negotiations with the unions are being initiated without delay. The group’s Baltic sawmills are not affected by the cuts.
The reason Bergs Timber gives for the measures is the current surplus in the supply of spruce sawnwood, particularly the lower grades, and the ensuing pressure on market prices. The situation has arisen from the bark-beetle calamity in parts of central Europe and Sweden as well as more intensive cutting of beetle-damaged wood at the works and substantially higher stocks of sawnwood. In order to process the damaged wood in the Swedish regions of Småland, Östergötland, and Sörmland promptly, Bergs Timber will switch the bulk of the winter cutting at the Orrefors sawmill, which has only been producing pine sawnwood in the last few years, to spruce beetlewood.
