A steadier income stream with continuous-cover forestry
Timber prices can swing widely. By harvesting more frequently with continuous-cover forestry (hyggesfritt skogsbruk), forest owners can spread risk tied to timber prices—as well as inflation and temporarily high logging costs.
In continuous-cover forestry, repeated timber removals are a natural part of management—so revenues tend to be recurring, too. Harvests using continuous-cover methods typically happen every 10–15 years, compared with final fellings (slutavverkning) in clearcut forestry (kalhyggesbruk), which occur at intervals of at least 70–100 years—often even less frequently in northern Sweden.
In other words, forest owners receive income from their forest far more often with continuous-cover management—which reduces several financial risks.
Diversifying the risk of timber prices
Market prices for timber can shift dramatically. For example, the price of pulpwood in 2022 was close to half of what it was in the first quarter of 2023—an enormous difference for a forest owner’s bottom line.
Clearcutting is similar to trying to time the market: the entire stand is harvested at one point in time and sold at whatever price the market pays right then. If you’re unlucky, that can cost you a lot of money.
Continuous-cover forestry—because it involves harvesting more often—can be a more sustainable, lower-risk strategy over the long run. By selling timber at multiple points in time, forest owners can spread risk and gain broader exposure to market conditions, timber prices, and inflation—much like diversification strategies used in investing.
Logging costs and pest damage
The risk of temporarily high logging costs also decreases when harvests occur more frequently. Forest owners can also reduce risk related to pest outbreaks by harvesting and selling timber continuously instead of waiting to cut an entire stand at once.
