Softwood sawmills across the globe recorded average losses of US$12/m³ in 2008, increasing to US$14/m³ in the first quarter of 2009, according to a new report.

The Global Lumber/Sawn Wood Cost Benchmarking Report says the figures compare to a profit of US$8/m³ in 2006.

Canada suffered the most, with mills in eastern Canada recording average losses of US$37/m³ in 2008, due to a collapsing US market, the strength of the Canadian dollar and export taxes on Canadian shipments to the US.

South Africa, China and north-west Russia had the highest earnings, recording an average profit of US$3-4/m³.

The highest delivered log costs in 2008 were in China for mills using both domestic and imported logs. Next highest was Germany, Finland and Austria with costs of US$105-120/m³ – three times the log costs in Russia.

“It is clear from the survey results that much of Canada and Europe were the big financial losers in 2008 and so far in 2009, mainly from weak markets, over-capacity and cost structure issues,” said Russell Taylor of WOOD Markets Group, which produced the report together with PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Beck Group.