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Germans turning to wood to heat their homes
There's a run on wood these days in Germany, with suppliers across the country reporting a surge in sales as heating costs soar due to skyrocketing gas and electricity prices.
Germany, in particular, relied on Russian gas. The country got more than half of its imports from Russia in 2021; by this September, it got none.
Germany responded by filling up its gas storage and seeking supply elsewhere, often at a premium.
High prices have forced industry cutbacks and closures and municipalities are cutting back — lower temperatures in swimming pools, street lights turned off.
Households are urged to use less energy, but many will nevertheless face huge jumps in their utility bills, even as the German government tries to offset the price surge for consumers and companies.
In recent years, roughly half of Germany’s homes were heated with natural gas and another 25% used heating oil, while less than 6% used firewood.
But now suppliers of the raw material are struggling to keep up, leading to a scarcity of firewood. Earlier this summer, Germany’s Federal Firewood Association said the market was all out of wood.
Firewood is one backup plan in case Germany runs out of gas in the winter. Already, there are fears that gas will be rationed for industrial use.
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Demand is so high that most suppliers stopped taking orders in July for the rest of the year. Some are trying to line up deliveries for next winter even as the price of wood has also doubled but remains well below that of gas or electric heating systems.
KötterlKötterl has owned his one-man business, Brennholz München Palette, for about 10 years, and has never seen anything like this rush for firewood.
He started to see firewood demand tick up during the pandemic, when people were anxious and had to stay at home.
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Then came the war in Ukraine and disruptions to the supply chains, especially from Eastern Europe.
The impending energy crisis has strained supply even more intensely, and dramatically increased prices for the firewood.
People want more of it, and the high costs of energy and other products mean it is more expensive to cut it, dry it, package it, and transport it.
Gerd Müller, of Germany’s Federal Association of Firewood Trade and Production, said the average price increase is about 30 to 40 percent at most dealers, or about 150 euros per bulk cubic meter. According to Germany’s Federal Statistical Office, in August 2022 the price of firewood and wood pellets rose 86 percent.
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