Swiss industrial-wood processing companies and exporters have sharply reduced prices for industrial wood. The action came as a surprise for many forest owners, forestry companies, and log merchants. In many cases, suppliers were given notification of the reductions without prior discussion or negotiations. At the beginning of July, suppliers were still working from the assumption that there would be no new price negotiations until the end of September or the beginning of October. In spring and early summer, however, a sharp rise occurred in forest stocks, especially where industrial hardwood is concerned, when considerably fewer hardwood logs were exported to Italy and Austria, sawlogs were sold as industrial wood due to a lack of demand from Swiss sawmills, and Swiss industrial-wood processing companies had imposed quotas on their intake.
