Vida stops sawing timber – the price is too high: "We have reached a limit"
In March, Vida will stop sawing timber for a week, a reaction to the soaring prices.CEO Måns Johansson hopes that their decision will calm the market."If we are going to run a serious business, it cannot take further steps upwards," he says.
It was SR Kronoberg that was the first to report on the timber giant's production stop. In March, they will completely stop sawing timber for a week, a reaction to the past year's sharp increase in the price of timber.
"In the end, we will reach a limit. At the beginning of 2025, we thought that timber prices would level off, but they have continued to be pushed upwards. And if we are to run a serious business, it cannot take further steps upwards," says Måns Johansson, CEO of Vida.
What do you hope a week's stop in production will do?
"Number one is that we look out for Vida's best. We have many strong years behind us financially and will show okay results when we present it in a month's time, but it is my responsibility to navigate our way forward without bright red numbers. So ensuring that there are not too big losses is one part.
"I don't think this will cause timber prices to fall and that it will bring about a big change. But we are still a major player. And the fact that prices have risen 50 percent in one year, it cannot continue. And we hope that this can have a smoothing effect.
"It is not only the price of the raw material that is at fault here, but the equation between timber price and sale price looks difficult in the future."
The production shutdown will affect all of the company's twelve sawmills, but Måns Johansson says that their week-long break should not really raise any eyebrows and that there is absolutely no question of any notice.
"We sometimes choose to close an extra week during the summer, so if it had been holiday time now, no one would have reacted. We are bringing forward some summer maintenance that we would otherwise have done in July and tidying up our facilities. Then we will go rock hard again.
The major downturn in the construction industry and the situation in the market for wood products, actually since the war in Ukraine, is the second part of the equation that has resulted in a tougher financial existence for Vida. This could mean that the company chooses to shut down its productions for a few more weeks.
"We'll have to evaluate and see if it's necessary. It is not only the price of the raw material that is at fault here, but the equation between timber price and sale price looks difficult in the future.
