Hardwood Chip Prices Continue Extended Decline

Prices for hardwood chips traded overseas have been in steady decline since November 2011. In less than four years, the FOEX hardwood chip price index (PIX-HCG) has fallen almost 14% to reach $178.34 per oven-dry metric ton (odmt) in July 2015. The downward trend of the index has partly been the result of lower prices for hardwood chips, in U.S. dollar terms, imported to Japan from Australia, Chile, and South Africa.

 

Global overseas trade of hardwood chips has slowed down in 2015 with the total trade for the first six months of the year being almost 14% lower than the same period in 2014, according to Wood Resources International, Bothell, Wash., USA. 

 

The FOEX softwood chip price index (PIX-SCG) has fluctuated more than the PIX-HCG the past two years and has been on an upswing for the past three months after having declined since last summer. In July, the Index was up almost 4% month-over-month to $173.20/odmt, the highest level since December 2014. The increase in the price index was due in part to higher import prices in Japan and Turkey.     

 

FOEX and Wood Resources International (WRI) have cooperatively launched two wood chip price indices, the Softwood Chip Global (SCG) and Hardwood Chip Global (HCG), both part of the PIX index family of FOEX. The Indices represent prices (CIF) for wood chips that are traded globally overseas for the manufacturing of wood pulp and wood-based panels. The Indices are reported monthly the third Tuesday of the month on the FOEX web site. 

For more information, contact Hakan Ekstrom at Wood Resources International.