22 | Country Market Update: Ireland
SUMMARY
■More than 26,000ha of forest were blown during storm Eowyn
■The windblow equates to between 9.5-10 million m3
■Coillte has suspended its quarterly log auctions
■The prospect of the US imposing tariffs is causing nervousness
STORM TRUMPS TRUMP
Ireland’s timber sector faces up to huge volume of windblow following the most powerful storm to hit the island in over a decade. Sally Spencer reports
While the Trump administration’s first 100 days may have blown a metaphorical hurricane through global economies and international relations, in Ireland it was a real storm that proved to be the major disruptor. A series of storms hit Ireland and the UK over the winter months, with the fourth of these, Storm Darragh, causing havoc between December 6-7. But, in retrospect, Darragh was a mild inconvenience compared to the fifth storm of the season, which struck Ireland between January 24-25 – Eowyn. According to the Met Office, Eowyn, which reached hurricane force on the Beaufort scale, was the most powerful windstorm to hit the region for over a decade.
Eowyn cut a swathe through the midlands, the north and the north-east of Ireland, causing “catastrophic” damage to the country’s forests. Initial estimates for the entire country were that 24,000ha of forest were blown and this already staggeringly high figure was increased to 26,050ha once the Department of Agriculture had conducted its full satellite survey.
Of this area, 14,500ha are in the Coillte estate, while 11,550ha comprise private forest areas.
Speaking just before the final extent of the damage was revealed and basing the estimate on 24,000ha, a Coillte spokesperson said that in volume terms the windblow amounted to between 9.5-10 million m3
.
“For Ireland that is pretty catastrophic and the biggest challenge is that it’s all in the one area, so the logistics are going to be very hard.”
For Coillte that volume represents around 18 months to two-years supply, while for the
TTJ | May/June 2025 |
www.ttjonline.com
Above: The windblow timber needs to be harvested and moved within 18 months to two years
private sector it’s likely to be more like three years supply simply because they wouldn’t ordinarily bring as much to market each year as Coillte would.
“It’s a much bigger challenge for the private sector from a volume perspective and also from a certification perspective,” said Coillte’s spokesperson. “A lot of the private owners – the pension funds, for example – are certified but unfortunately many of the others aren’t and so finding a market for their material may be difficult.”
In order to ensure the windblow retains its timber value, it needs to be harvested and moved within 18 months to two years, so it’s expected that volume will “hit the market at scale” and could reduce the value of logs significantly – depending on how much the sawmills can ramp up processing. Fortunately Ireland has several large sawmills with world- class production facilities and all currently have capacity to spare.
As mentioned, the logistics of harvesting the windblow areas are extremely challenging. Early indications are that most of the trees have fallen in one direction and are intact, which makes it easier – relatively speaking – from a harvesting perspective. However, there will be some snap and break, which will downgrade the value and some of the trees won’t be the age at which they would normally be harvested. “We may end up with a lot more of certain products, such as more small sawlog versus large sawlog and there may be some downgrade for the areas that did snap,” said Coillte.
Immediately after Eowyn, the Department of Agriculture established a Windblow Taskforce comprising stakeholders including Coillte, private forest owners and forestry companies. The group is leading a co- ordinated response to the storms – with particular emphasis on managing the health and safety element of timber extraction – and has already met several times. Ireland has a large pool of harvesting contractors to draw upon and is also able to call upon international harvesting companies that specialise in storm blow. Haulage is more problematic because EU cabotage regulations
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85
