New rules for the sale of wood, including a geographical criterion, have reduced interest in the Polish raw material among foreign entrepreneurs, said the head of the State Forests, Witold Koss. He added that these are mainly companies from Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
New rules for the sale of wood were introduced by the head of the State Forests in an order in October 2024 and will apply in 2025 and 2026. Their aim was to strengthen local entrepreneurs and limit the export of the raw material outside the EU countries.
One of the new elements of the sales rules was the introduction purchase geography criterion. This means that additional bonuses are given to entrepreneurs whose processing plants are located closer to the place of purchase. If the wood is not processed, the company does not receive additional points in the geographical criterion.
– The introduction of the criterion of purchase geography allows us to reduce the distance over which wood is transported. Thanks to this solution, some German, Czech and Slovak companies participated in the tender procedure to a limited extent because it was not profitable for them – said Witold Koss.
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Sale of wood under new rules
In accordance with the new rules for the sale of wood, the price criterion was lowered to 75 percent, the weight of the share of wood processing was set at 7.5 percent, and the weight of the depth of processing was also set at 7.5 percent. The geography criterion is 10%. weight of the offer evaluation. The new rules also eliminated the energy pool and included it in the general pool of wood sold. Entrepreneurs can also place orders for 75 percent. what they bought before.
The State Forests reported that In 2025, a total of 38 million cubic meters is expected to hit the market. woodi.e. by 5 percent. less than in 2024. The possibility of a lower supply of wood was signaled by the General Director in an interview with PAP in August 2024.
Koss explained that State Forests will have savings in terms of the cost of wood harvesting in 2025. – Initial tenders for forest services have shown that we will have savings resulting from the competition of ZULs (forest service companies) on the free market – he pointed out .
The general director admitted that this is better news for LP, but worse for ZUL. – We need to find a way to prevent ZULs from competing with each other in this way and eliminating each other – he explained.
They buy wood online
Polish entrepreneurs buy most of the wood obtained by the State Forests through the Forest and Timber Portal (75% of the volume offered – after changing the sales rules) and in the auction sales system (25% – after the change) – that's approx. 80%. offers of the State Forests. The remaining approx. 20 percent sales offers go to regular auctions in the e-drewno application and for retail sale.
Entrepreneurs who have the so-called purchase history, i.e. they purchased wood from LP in previous years. All entrepreneurs, including new entities with no purchase history, can purchase wood at system auctions. They also receive wood that could not be sold through the Forest and Wood Portal.
Entrepreneurs can also purchase raw materials at regular auctions in the e-drewno application, which take place on an ongoing basis, but offers from forest districts are incidental and often concern small amounts of raw materials. The so-called wood remains and raw material not previously included in the acquisition plans and originating from sanitary cuts or cuts carried out as part of removing the effects of disasters – e.g. strong winds or storms.
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