Finnish as Well as Swedish Shippers Were Unable to Agree Follow-on Second-Quarter Delivery

After considerable delays arose in some cases in handling volumes under contract during the course of the first quarter, Finnish as well as Swedish shippers were unable to agree follow-on second-quarter delivery contracts with whitewood buyers in Germany until the middle of April. As a result of the frosty period in February, various central European buyers suspended at short notice the intake they had planned under existing contracts for this month, postponing it to March/April. Owing to this delayed execution and the still largely adequate supply of raw material to importing planing works, the negotiations on follow-on contracts were not commenced until later either. Added to this is the fact that the quarterly contract terms have consequently shortened to two instead of three months. In many cases the contracts are only for deliveries in May/June. Source: euwid-wood-products