Robinia Prices

To give you a realistic view of the Robinia market, I will explain it in the same way as I've done with the Teak prices.

Robinia wood can be used for many things, but the main commodities are poles, planks and rafters. The highest demand is actually for poles. Poles that are between 8-15 cm in diametre and that are sapwood free are most easily sold, because they can be used in such a wide range.  To achieve such thickness, the trees would have to be between 8 and 12 years old.

To give you an idea of the several prices ranges for Robinia wood, here is a list:

1. Harvested timber: € 100 per m³. We harvest the trees, the buyer transports the trees to his sawmill and processes them himself.
2. Debarked timber: € 150 per m³. We harvest the trees and debark them, the buyer transports the timber and processes it further.
3. Debarked and pointed poles: € 250 - € 300 per m³. We harvest the trees, debark them and point them. The buyer then transports them and sell them as poles. 100 poles of 10 cm thick and 2 metres long equals 2 m³.
4. Sawn timber: € 400 - € 500 per m³. We do the harvesting and processing, the buyer buys a sapwood free product, ready to processed further into furniture for example.
5. Laminated Timber: up to € 1.800 per m³. But this is an end product and is sold directly to the consumer.

We will not go beyond step 4, that's why we only calculate a maximum of € 500 per m³ in all of our tables. Of course, € 500 is the current price paid per m³. If you calculate the annual price increases, you will come to the numbers shown in our tables. We know of a certain forestry company that calculates the price of laminated timber in their projections, now you can see why that's wrong.

Wouter Bakker