Of
Claus Hulverscheidt, Berlin
Nobody can yet say with certainty whether this is just the proverbial exception to the rule or the first indication of a trend reversal. In any case, the fact is that while food, gas, travel, housing and hundreds of other products and services are rising in price, the price of lumber has all but collapsed in the past few weeks. A cubic meter of wood currently costs the equivalent of a good 230 euros on the commodity futures exchange, which corresponds to a decrease of around 61 percent compared to March alone. Compared to May 2021, when beams, boards and planks sometimes cost up to 680 euros per cubic meter, the minus is almost 66 percent.