State-owned enterprise (SOE) "Forests of Ukraine" sold 1.45 million cubic meters or 93% of the resource at auctions for the sale of timber for the second half of the year out of the proposed 1.56 million cubic meters, the SOE's press service said on Facebook on Monday.

According to the report, the bidders contracted 96% of roundwood and 91% of firewood for industrial use.

"As a result of meetings with the business of SOE 'Forests of Ukraine,' a new algorithm for forming the starting price was proposed (both at semi-annual and quarterly auctions). Therefore, the starting prices at semi-annual auctions were mostly significantly lower than the market level. However, this did not affect the results of the auctions. The final price, as usual, was determined exclusively by the balance of supply and demand," the enterprise said.

At the same time, the starting prices in the alder and birch segment were half the current market level, but during the auctions they increased by 107–133%, to almost UAH 8,000 per cubic meter; round pine from the starting price of UAH 3,600 per cubic meter, the product was sold for UAH 4,100 per cubic meter; coniferous firewood (pine) from UAH 1,170 per cubic meter, it rose in price to UAH 1,540 per cubic meter.

In parallel with the semi-annual ones, timber auctions for the third quarter of 2025 have also started.

Forests of Ukraine intends to introduce annual agreements for the first time in 2026, which will allow market participants to contract the required volumes of resources and clearly plan the production process.

"The high demand for timber remains, so the proposals of SOE 'Forests of Ukraine' regarding changes to the legislative and regulatory framework that limits timber harvesting are becoming even more relevant," the enterprise said.
  
Source: interfax.com.ua