European Forestry Pulse #126 🌲

Hello,

The fourth quarter starts today. The EUDR applies in its final week, on 30 December.

EU law already gives small forest owners some relief. How it works in Germany sits in a draft rule.

Last Friday, the federal states asked to write it into the law itself.

Here's what's moving European forestry this week:

On 25 September, Germany's Bundesrat gave its opinion on the national EUDR law. It is still a draft. The Bundesrat is the chamber where the 16 federal states sit.

The federal cabinet adopted the draft on 12 August. The Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) leads enforcement. State authorities share the work. The opinion now goes to the federal government, which can reply. The Bundestag plans to refer the bill to its agriculture committee on 8 October.

The relief starts in EU law. An amendment adopted in December 2025 added a simplified route for small operators.

Micro and small primary operators file a "one-time simplified declaration". Their postal address may replace geolocation. I covered this EU-level relief in Professional #17 in May.

Germany is now deciding how it works at home. In August, the agriculture ministry presented a draft administrative rule. An administrative rule tells authorities how to apply a law. It is not a law passed by parliament. The ministry summed up its core relief. An address "will be enough instead of geodata", and joint declarations "will be possible" (my translation).

In Germany, small and micro primary producers would give a business or home address. They would add a national identification number. The ministry says its draft would let forestry associations file one joint due diligence statement. It would cover the timber they sell for members.

In August, the draft was still being agreed with other ministries and the states. It is meant to start on 30 December 2026.

We have not seen the Bundesrat's full decision text. The detail here comes from AGDW, the umbrella body of German forest owners. Before the vote, AGDW said the Bundesrat committees backed several changes, including:

→ Forestry associations filing the simplified declaration for members

→ A home or business address instead of geodata

→ Reuse of data already on file, to avoid reporting twice

→ Changes to the penalty rules

After the vote, AGDW president Andreas Bitter explained the ask. "The Bundesrat argues for anchoring these rules in the German implementing law, not only in an administrative rule. That creates the legal certainty forest owners need" (my translation).

The draft law is not only about paperwork.

Saxony's state representation in Berlin summarises the penalties in the draft. The law is not passed yet. Under the current draft, intentional breaches could bring prison of up to five years. Fines for companies could reach 4% of total turnover. On 23 September, Bitter asked for proportionality. "If even the absence of a due diligence statement has serious legal consequences, the necessary proportionality is missing" (my translation).

The EUDR is EU law. But each member state names its own authorities and sets its own penalties. So the same EU relief can work differently on the ground. In one country the detail sits in a law. In another, in a rule.

My read, and it is a read rather than a finding: a law is harder to change than a rule. That is why the states want the detail in the law.

If you own forest in Germany: the EU route exists. Germany's own arrangements for it are still a draft. Ask your forestry association whether it will file for you.

If you own forest elsewhere in the EU: find out how your country applies the relief. In a law, in a rule, or still being drafted.

If you buy timber from small owners: your suppliers may file through an association. Ask which route they will use before December.

If you work for a forestry association: the draft rule gives you a role. Start collecting member data now.

The system is listening to small owners. The EU relief exists. The states want Germany's details written into the law. Right now those details are in pencil. Watch the Bundestag committee for the ink. Sources: AGDW, 25 September 2026 | AGDW, 23 September 2026 | BMLEH press release 66/2026, 7 August 2026 | Saxony state office, 1068th Bundesrat session | Federal Government, 12 August 2026 | Bundesrat dossier 438/26 | Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, Article 4a | prior ForestryBrief coverage: ForestryBrief Professional #17

On 22 September, Södra introduced a temporary premium of 50 kronor per solid cubic metre. It covers hardwood pulpwood and sawable birch. It applies to new thinning assignments and delivery wood. The contract must be signed by 30 November.

Markus Springfeldt, Södra's market chief, gave two reasons. "We now have a short-term need for birch pulpwood for the industry until the turn of the year." And "right now we are selling an increased volume of birch logs, among other things to plywood manufacturing in the Baltics" (my translation).

Why it matters: Södra links part of it to birch-log sales to Baltic plywood makers. In #99 I covered Södra's June price cuts. This is the first birch premium we have seen from them.

The takeaway: Selling to Södra, with birch due for thinning? The window closes on 30 November. Source: Södra, 22 September 2026

On 22 September, Skogsstyrelsen published its felling forecast for Sweden. It expects about 84.6 million m³sk in 2026. That is 3% below 2025. The measurement called m³sk measures the whole stem above the stump, including bark and top, but not branches. The forecast is not part of Sweden's official statistics.

Softwood sawlogs are forecast down 1.3 million m³ (−4%). Pulpwood is forecast down 0.8 million m³ (−2%). Statistician Jonas Paulsson put it in context. "You have to go back to 2012 to find a felling level as low as the forecast shows for 2026" (my translation). He also warned that this year's forecast is less certain than usual. He named the market, outside factors and changed wood flows after the storms.

In Finland, Luke reported on 25 September. Industrial wood cut in August reached 5.2 million m³. That is 1% less than a year earlier. Log fellings rose 1%. Pulpwood fell 2%. From January to August, Finland cut 38.2 million m³, down 4%.

Why it matters: Less wood is moving in both countries. In #106 I reported Sweden's 2025 figure of 87.0 million m³sk. In #114 I covered Finland's first half.

The takeaway: Treat Sweden's figure as a forecast and Finland's as a measurement. Both point the same way. Source: Skogsstyrelsen, 22 September 2026 | Skogsstyrelsen press release (Swedish), 22 September 2026 | Luke, commercial fellings August 2026, 25 September 2026

FederlegnoArredo, Italy's wood and furniture federation, reported half-year exports on 23 September. Its research centre worked from Istat data.

The wood-furniture chain exported €9.2 billion from January to June. That is 4.5% less than a year earlier. June was down 1.4%. That came after a sharp 10.1% fall in May.

My read, and it is a read rather than a finding: furniture makers buy hardwood and panels. Their suppliers should watch this. The release does not measure any effect on them.

The takeaway: Selling hardwood or panels into Italy? Ask your buyers about their second-half order books now. Source: FederlegnoArredo Centro Studi, 23 September 2026 | Adnkronos, 23 September 2026 | Supply Chain Italy, 23 September 2026

On 18 September, the Finnish Forest Centre described how it now checks subsidised forest work. Sites are no longer picked at random for checks. Satellite images from before and after the work flag the suspect ones.

The Forest Centre reports its findings since spring 2025. About 1,500 hectares got aid without grounds, it says. It says about €200,000 has been reclaimed or paid back. This year alone, its checks found 450 hectares where aid conditions were not met. On another 64 hectares, it found no work had been done at all.

Aki Hostikka is its service manager for financing and inspection. "We can analyse monitoring data better all the time" (my translation).

The context: On Tuesday, #125 covered how Metsä Group now prices young-stand work. This is the other side: how the state checks that subsidised work was done.

Why it matters: Satellites are no longer only measuring forests. They are checking the work done in them.

The takeaway: If you claim a forest management subsidy, keep your own before-and-after record. Assume the satellite has one too. Source: Finnish Forest Centre, 18 September 2026

Book the EUDR training built for small operators.

In August, issue #109 said your training session had not been scheduled yet. Now it has. The Commission runs three sessions for micro and small primary operators. They cover the simplified declaration.

Upstream operators have their own sessions on 6, 13 and 22 October.

"So do I need GPS coordinates for my forest or not?"

You will hear it this autumn. From a neighbour, a member, or a buyer. The honest answer: EU law now allows an address in some cases. How it works depends on your country. Saying "it depends" without sounding evasive takes practice.

Part 1 covers the questions that arrive without warning.

Compliance cost depends on where the relief is written.

A law, a draft rule, or a promise. Each has a different chance of still being there next year. Price them differently. Model the cost with the relief and without it. The gap is your regulatory risk.

I wrote the Forest-Investment Dictionary with Danish forest economist Anders Tærø Nielsen. It has 151 pages, 11 chapters, 14 printable tools, and 3 calculators. Investors learn to read a forest. Foresters learn to read a term sheet.

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If your association files for its members, who inside it does the work?

If joint declarations come, they save each member time. They move the work to someone else. Part 3 is about that someone. Who does the work, and whether anyone budgeted for it.

I wrote The Organization, Part 3 of the Playbook. It has 165 pages, 10 chapters, 10 printable tools, and a survey. It shows what it takes to be heard, and who does the work.

Almost nobody in European forestry publishes what communication costs. The survey inside starts the count. The price is €149. Get yours below.

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Until Tomorrow!

Wish you all the best: Peter

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