Log supply contracts, traceability and supply shocks

A log contract is a risk-allocation document. This lesson lists what it should fix, shows how a large public seller structures its sales, covers traceability under the EU Deforestation Regulation, and uses the 2018 to 2024 bark beetle crisis as a stress test for supply logistics.

What to fix in the contract

From the portal's log supply article, a purchase contract should fix:

• the measurement rule and its version, the place of measurement and who pays for it;
• the grading standard, who grades and the seller's right to witness;
• allowances, rounding and the tolerance on volume;
• the delivery period and who is responsible for storage until delivery;
• force majeure;
• the documents needed for traceability.

Grading letters look alike but are not equivalent. The RVR classes A to D (with a 3 m minimum section length for A and B and mixed grades such as B/C only by agreement), the Polish A to D ladder with quantified limits and the Austrian usages are different systems. EN 1927 (softwood), EN 1316 (hardwood) and EN 1309-3 (feature measurement) are paywalled, so the portal quotes no class limits; a contract should name the part and the edition.

A model of sales channels: Lasy Panstwowe

The most detailed open document on price formation is a September 2024 presentation by the Polish State Forests proposing rules for 2025. It is a proposal, and the final text was not checked. It describes offer sales through the Forest-Timber Portal, system auctions and internet auctions. The offer/system-auction split is 70/30 in 2024 and 75/25 in 2025; the buyer's ordering share of purchase history is reduced from 100% to 75%; the permitted volume deviation is minus 10% and plus 5%. Offer evaluation weights price at 80% (2024) and 75% (2025), with processed-wood share, processing depth and, in 2025, purchase geography at 10%. The deposit is 5,000 to 150,000 PLN.

Traceability and the EUDR

The European Commission states that the EU Deforestation Regulation, which covers wood, applies from 30 December 2026 to large and medium operators and from 30 June 2027 to micro and small operators (30 December 2026 for those already covered by the EU Timber Regulation). Simplification amendments came in December 2024 (Regulation (EU) 2024/3234) and December 2025. The dates have shifted before, so re-check the page. The portal's trade article adds that downstream operators keep supplier and customer details for five years (secondary source, Stibbe).

For the log yard, the practical requirement is a chain of identifiers: lot or stack number, delivery slip, supplier or felling area, felling date, species and volume, then sorting line, pile and output batch. The same chain serves buyer claims and storage planning.

A stress test: bark beetle salvage 2018 to 2024

For Germany, Thuenen Working Paper 244 (2024) lists damaged timber harvested at 31.9, 46.2, 60.1, 50.5 and 44.7 million Efm (harvested solid cubic metres) for 2018 to 2022; own calculation: the sum is 233.4 million, matching the paper's 233 million. Germany moved from an import surplus of 3.45 to 5.81 million Efm (2010 to 2017) to an export surplus from 2018, peaking at 6.97 million Efm in 2020, linked to Chinese demand. The paper's price-loss figures (3.39 billion euro, 26.31 euro per Efm, about 177 million Efm) do not reconcile on division (3.39 billion / 177 million is about 19 euro), so do not quote the per-Efm figure without the original.

For the Czech Republic, trade press quoting the statistical office reports 33.9 million m3 of damaged wood in 2020 (98% of harvest), of which 26.2 million m3 bark beetle (own calculation: 77%). In 2023 the harvest was 16.6 million m3 with 11 million damaged (own calculation: 66%). Official 2025 figures show removals of 16,712,575 m3, with salvage felling of 5,275,965 m3 (31.6%). The definitions may differ between sources.

Operational lessons

The sources support these mill practices: sort by age and condition on arrival, separate fresh attack from old galleries, debark early, dry technically above 55 degrees Celsius core temperature for several hours for insect-sensitive products, and write explicit blue stain, rot and gallery limits for salvage lots. Index-linked price formulas are the usual protection at both ends of a cycle, but the portal found no open source quantifying their use.

Key points

• A log contract fixes rule, version, place, cost split, grading standard, tolerance, delivery period, storage responsibility and documents.
• Letter grades A to D differ between national systems; name the standard, part and edition.
• Large public sellers combine a volume channel and an auction channel; read the evaluation criteria and deviation limits.
• EUDR dates (30 December 2026 and 30 June 2027) have shifted before; re-check before planning.
• Salvage lots need their own receiving lane, contract clauses and quality limits.
• Check arithmetic in sources: some published price-loss figures do not reconcile.