Forestry gross farm value up 6 percent in 2019

The agricultural summary for Louisiana was released this week by the LSU Extension Service and forestry, overall, showed a good increase.

Below is the portion of the report dealing with forestry. For the full report, click on this link.

"The projected Louisiana gross farm value of harvested forest products increased by 6.06% during the 2019 calendar year, ending the year at $921 million dollars in mill-delivered revenue. In terms of grade stumpage products, the story was rather mixed, with both pine and hardwood sawtimber showing large swings. The pine sawtimber harvest increased by 13% from the prior year and posted a total statewide harvest of approximately 971.9 million board feet during 2019. However, the hardwood sawtimber harvest decreased during 2019, a 17% decrease to 82.9 million board feet. Pine chipn-saw also saw significant decreases in 2019 with a total harvest of 855,337 cords, a decrease of 11% from 2018 levels.

"The total pulpwood harvest was 5.68 million cords, up less than 1% from the previous year. Pine pulpwood harvest increased by 5%, from 4.85 million cords during 2018 to 5.14 million cords in 2019. As with sawtimber, hardwood pulpwood harvest experienced a large decrease in 2019, with total harvests totaling 542,231 cords compared to 779,334 cords in 2018, a more than 30% decrease.

"Stumpage prices paid for pine sawtimber during 2019 averaged $194.98 per thousand board feet, up slightly from the prior year and bringing the two-year trend of lower prices. This average represents approximately a 1.02% increase from the previous year ($193 per thousand board feet). Prices paid for mixed hardwood sawtimber during 2019 averaged $313.55 per thousand, which is a 7.47% increase from the previous year ($291.75 per thousand). Pine chip-n-saw averaged $50.74 per thousand in 2019, which was up $2.01 from the previous year. Pulpwood stumpage prices averaged $23.56 per cord per for pine, down 3.86% from the previous year, while hardwood pulpwood averaged $35.15 per cord, up 20.81% from the previous year's average.

"Delivered prices were up in 2019 for all three sawtimber class products over the period reported (pine sawtimber up 3.563%, mixed hardwood up 10.5% and chip-n-saw up 3.5%). In terms of pulpwood products, hardwood pulpwood was up approximately 8.2%, while pine pulpwood was up marginally at 2.8%.

"As a caution, individual landowners should not look at Timber Mart South Prices as an indication of what they will get for timber sold on their land, but rather as a gauge to judge price trends and directions. Timber owners should contact a consulting forester who can help them best gauge the market for their timber as the prices received for individual tracts varies considerably depending on local market conditions and specifics of their individual property.

"During the year, Louisiana's private forest landowners received an estimated $399.6 million from the sale of forest timber (stumpage), up 3.9% from the $384.6 million in the previous year. Timber harvesting contractors and their employees earned approximately $521.5 million from harvesting the trees and moving wood to mills during 2019, an increase of 7.78% from $483.8 million in 2018."