Markus Maillinger’s company, Ebersberger Maillinger GmbH, has been in the wood trade for more than 80 years. But the situation hasn’t been like it is now for a long time: “The old tiled stoves are being fired up again,” says Maillinger, referring to the high oil prices, which are causing people to increasingly switch to alternative heating options such as wood. What’s next?
The consequences of the war in Ukraine are increasingly being felt in the district of Ebersberg. Energy and raw material prices in particular are rising sharply. It is difficult to estimate when the right time to buy is. The Ebersberg heating oil suppliers are reluctant to make recommendations: “Everyone has to know that for themselves,” says Cornelia layer from the heating oil company Josef Kurzder in Grafing. Many customers are reluctant to buy because of the price uncertainty.
Buy now? Or wait? Who knows what’s right
Martin Stürzer from Raiffeisenmarkt Zorneding still gets some orders – emergencies. The recent cold snap has added to the oil tank levels. And with an empty oil tank, customers are left in the cold. If the price of oil rose by more than 100 percent compared to last year, many would think twice about freezing.
However, there are not as many orders as at the beginning of the war. No one could have guessed what the developments in the war would bring. Is there an oil shortage? Or none at all? There was a veritable rush to the heating oil suppliers, says Stürzer. The fact that the suppliers only issued limited quantities contributed to the general concern.
The war is now exacerbating the already tense situation. Customers have been hectic for a long time. As seldom before, the heating oil prices have varied greatly for two years and worried the people in the Ebersberg district. Anyone who thinks they are lucky not to heat with oil but with pellets, Stürzer brings them back to reality: “Wood pellets have also become very expensive.” Because of the high oil prices, wood is also in high demand as a substitute heating medium.
Max Putz from the Holzmax firewood distributor in Grafing would like to continue to sell his customers inexpensive goods. But the need for diesel for transporting wood, combined with the price of wood, is forcing him to raise prices considerably: “Personally, I’m not enriching myself, I have no choice but to pass on the cost of fuel to the buyer.” Customers now even include those who have never bought wood before. Many established customers would also order twice as much as usual to be on the safe side.
As a result, the prices for firewood have increased by ten to 20 percent since last autumn. A significant increase for firewood. The fact that deliveries from Russia and Eastern Europe are now completely absent exacerbates the situation. Several deliveries of wood from the Bavarian Forest were recently canceled for Stürzer because the trees cannot grow so quicklyten how to order.
The unsettled market situation is also registered at the Wasserburg forestry company, which is responsible for large parts of the Ebersberg forest. Forest manager Heinz Utschig is convinced: “We are still on course.” The sawmills in the district could be supplied as planned and the climate change-related conversion away from spruce to mixed forest is also proceeding without problems. Thanks to the optimal weather in recent years, the forests south of the Danube are doing well. For Utschig, southern Bavaria is like an “island of bliss”.
The situation at the Fritsch carpentry shop in Ebersberg is less happy and much more tense. Although the order books are more than full, it could be tight to process all orders in three to four months. In addition to the rising wood prices, materials have become rare on the world market that carpenters would not have expected before: screws, clay bricks, glue or even concrete blocks. Driven by the increasing demand for sustainable wooden buildings, it is also becoming increasingly challenging here to combine the increasing demand with less planning security.
Despite all the difficulties in the supply chains, one thing is clear to the Ebersberg timber dealer Markus Maillinger: Compared to dying in the Ukraine, the problems here are small. Nobody here knows how the situation will develop there. Maillinger hopes that these tense times will soon be over.