The timber prices in North India have seen a sharp rise by 100 mark between November till writing this news. The market report indicates that now Poplar timber has once again touched the mark of Rs 1450 per quintal whereas Eucalyptus has touched Rs 1100 per quintal. It is to be noted that the timber price softened by 10-15% from its peak in both the categories when the plantation timber felling started before monsoon this year and also supported with growing imports. But since a month lack of labours, adverse weather conditionhave dampened the speed of timber harvest.
After mid-November when workers have begun to return to factories, the demand for timber suddenly picked up; but the Mandis were not equipped with stock and hence the demand supply mismatch appeared. The logging and harvesting of timber in full scale is only expected to pick up when workers are back to fields along with foggy winter allow easy working. The tree felling is expected to be normalised after January says experts in North India.
People from Timber Mandis informed that once the price is set during Deepawali, it goes up till the March, the reason for the price rise is the unavailability of workers for tree felling as most of them get involved in cropping and other cultivation. It is a general phenomena every year attributing to reduced timber availability in the winter season.
The timber supply is getting irregular also due to tightening of GST compliance in different Mandis. It is also reported that notices are being served to many of the timber firms for irregularities found in taxation and GST compliances. These are leading to attentive buying and transactions in timber. The expert says that this is also one of the reasons, the log imports are increasing. Also, there is expectation that due to rising uncertain weather conditions, timber availability is getting reduced.
Some experts from a timber Mandi quipped that the farmers will start harvesting with return of more workers and the availability will be stabilized once harvesting will come to a full swing. We have received reports from Bareilly and Lucknow regions about the shortage. Similar reports are coming from Punjab and Yamuna Nagar Mandis too. The overall impact is felt among manufacturers as veneer cost has gone up.