Regional variation in radiata pine sawlog prices in New Zealand

Abstract

There is regional variation in market structure and log quality for radiata pine sawlogs in New Zealand. This should be reflected in a corresponding variation in sawlog prices between regions. This paper presents a study of log price variation for three broad categories of domestic saw logs in four wood supply regions in New Zealand. A survey of log producers was used to gather data on log prices and log attributes. A regression model was then used to estimate log prices that could be compared to actual prices received. The results show that there are significant price differences between some regions, and for some log grades, and that these differences can be explained by differences in log attributes.