The hardwood markets remain strong for quality timber, and we continue to successfully market and sell our clients’ timber through our competitive bid sale procedure. This month we share some of the recent bid sale highlights.
A recent timber sale (“Timber Sale A”) in northwestern PA is one example of how well competitively-bid timber sales can benefit the landowner. FORECON cruised and marked a timber sale that contained approximately 123,000 board feet (Doyle Log Rule), with a mixture of hard maple, black cherry, red maple, yellow poplar, white ash, red oak, beech, birch and cucumber. The hard maple averaged about 160 board feet/tree, the black cherry about 230 bf/t, the red maple about 260 bf/t, the yellow poplar about 370 bf/t, the white ash about 165 bf/t, the red oak about 160 bf/t, the beech about 135 bf/t, the birch about 135 bf/t, and the cucumber about 140 bf/t. A bid prospectus containing a list of the number of trees and volumes by species, along with terms of the sale and sale maps, was mailed out to prospective bidders.
The results were as follows:
This was a very well attended bid opening, with thirteen different bidders responding. The high bid was 117% higher than the low bid, with 7 bids below the average and 6 above. It was estimated that the black cherry brought over $1,540/MBF (Doyle); hard maple came in at about $965/Mbf; red maple at about $515/Mbf; yellow poplar at about $225/Mbf; white ash about $580/Mbf; red oak about $900/Mbf; beech about $45/Mbf; birch about $95/Mbf; and cucumber about $155/Mbf.
Here’s another recent timber sale (“Timber Sale B”) in northwestern PA that sold very well under the competitive bid format. We cruised and marked this timber sale, and it contained about 153,000 board feet (Doyle Log Rule). There was a mixture of red oak (455 bf/t), soft maple (165 bf/t), hickory (120 bf/t), white pine (490 bf/t), white ash (220 bf/tree), hard maple (135 bf/tree), black cherry (170 bf/tree), and a variety of other miscellaneous species .
A bid prospectus containing a list of the number of trees and volumes by species, along with terms of the sale and sale maps, was also mailed out to prospective bidders.
The results for this sale were as follows:
This also showed great participation, and the high bid was 39% higher than the lowest bid, with 4 bids above the average, and 4 bids below. It was estimated that the red oak brought about $765/Mbf (Doyle); soft maple about $510/Mbf; hickory about $95/Mbf; white pine about $150/Mbf; white ash about $480/Mbf; hard maple about $700/Mbf; and black cherry about $955/Mbf.
Please keep in mind that results depend on a variety of circumstances; quality of timber, access conditions, and prospectus terms are just some of them. The timber markets in our region remain very active and hot, and we will continue to bring more insight into bidding results in subsequent posts.
As always, if you have timber you may be interested in selling, and want a long-standing professional forestry firm representing your best interests in the process, please don’t hesitate to call any of our FORECON offices. Our foresters would be very happy to speak with you about the markets, and more importantly, your goals and objectives for your land.
