The Pine Pulpwood Problem

Many Southern pine plantation owners have a big problem. That problem is pulpwood. Over the past several years, the South has had numerous mill closings, with pulpwood markets taking the hardest hit. Along with the mill closings, the scattered wood concentration yards that shipped raw materials by rail to the mills have closed. These closings have exacerbated what was already a glut of pine pulpwood. According to an August 2025 ABC Channel 15 News article, South Carolina alone lost approximately 12,000,000 tons (equivalent to around 480,000 loads) of wood production due to mill closures. In addition to the closings, logging costs have increased dramatically, putting a financial squeeze on loggers.

What trees are classified as pulpwood? Market specifications vary by region, but pine pulpwood is generally the trees in a stand that are less than 9” diameter (measured at 4.5 feet from the ground—diameter breast height or DBH), deformed trees, and the waste wood from the tops of sawtimber trees.

The pulp markets that remain (paper products, oriented strand board, biofuel pellets) have more wood coming in than they can process or have a market for. This glut means they have to put their raw material suppliers (loggers) on a weekly quota, limiting the number of loads they can haul to the mill.

Logging is very much a production-based business. Margins are thin, and loggers must haul a certain number of loads (or tons) per week to cover operational expenses. Loggers are constantly battling quotas, equipment problems, labor issues, and weather to meet that magic number of weekly tons that equates to profitability.

Example Pulpwood Seller Situation

ACME Logging needs to haul 1,000 tons per week (~40 loads) to meet operational costs. ACME’s logging rate averages $25 per ton, so at 1,000 tons per week, a minimum of $25,000 in cash flow is needed.

Joe Landowner has 100 acres of 16-year-old planted pine plantation. The stand’s diameter growth has stalled due to high density. Joe’s management goal is to produce a stand of large, valuable sawtimber trees. To make this happen, a thinning harvest is necessary to reduce density by removing smaller and lower-quality trees. Once thinned, the remaining trees will have room to grow, eventually reaching a sawtimber product class. All products removed in the thinning harvest will fall in the pulpwood product class. The thinning will produce around one load per acre for a total of 100 loads. More on thinning here.

Joe calls ACME and asks them to come out and assess the harvest. ACME inspects the stand and informs Joe that it is a fine stand, but they can’t purchase the timber, at least not at this time.

Why can’t ACME buy the timber? Quotas. He currently has only 25 loads per week (~625 tons) to the only pine pulpwood market within a feasible hauling distance. With no other products present in the stand, ACME would come up 15 loads short of profitability.

Joe thinks it over, knowing that his stand will never become sawtimber unless it is thinned, and then offers to give the pulpwood to ACME. ACME still declines.

Why decline free wood? The numbers don’t add up to profitability. As mentioned above, profitability for ACME occurs at 40 loads or $25,000 of weekly revenue. The going rate for pulpwood in the area is $5/ton (Mill delivery price minus logging cost—the remainder is paid to the landowner), so giving the wood to ACME adds an additional $5/ton to their logging rate. At the quota-limited 625 tons per week, the boosted logging rate ($25/ton plus $5/ton) still doesn’t add up to profitability (625 tons x $30/ton = $18,750).

Of course, ACME saves money on fuel when hauling fewer loads, but it is still not enough to bridge the profitability gap. In an area with a higher mill delivery price and/or a slightly higher weekly quota, the math may work.  

What is a Timberland Owner to Do?

• Plan ahead. There are windows of opportunity when inclement weather creates low inventory at mills and quotas are temporarily dropped. You will likely need to work with a forestry consultant who will put your tract on their radar, allowing them to market it quickly when suitable conditions arise.

  
  

• Combining the sale of stands. If you have a pine pulpwood stand that needs thinning, combining the thinning sale with a stand that has other products can be beneficial. Adding a stand of mature timber to the thinning in the example above would allow ACME to fill its pulpwood mill quota, then fill the load void with other products to other mills. If you only have pulpwood-grade products, talk to your neighbors. If they plan on selling sawtimber-grade products in the future, let them know you'd like to talk to the buyer or consultant handling the sale to see if your thinning/pulpwood sale can be added.

  
  

• Plant fewer trees. Traditionally, southern pine plantations were planted fairly densely, with 500 trees or more per acre. The stands generally received thinnings around ages 15 and 25, with a final harvest at 35 to 40 years old. This model no longer works (at least in my work area). Planting at a wider spacing (~300 trees/acre) solves much of the pulpwood problem. With fewer trees, there is more room for diameter growth. Diameter stagnation occurs at a later age, when the trees are larger, so if the stand is thinned, there is a mix of pulp and sawtimber products, making a harvest feasible. In areas with no pulp markets, grow the stand to 25 to 35 years old, harvest—no intermediate thinning is needed to produce a substantial amount of sawtimber. More on low-density plantings here.

Lower-density plantings are a solution for timberland owners in areas with poor pulpwood markets.

This low-density loblolly pine planting (~300 trees per acre) is showing exceptional diameter growth after eight growing seasons. The wider planting spacing will give the owner the option of thinning at around age 20, or not thinning and letting the stand grow to 25 to 35 years old. Either option will produce a substantial amount of sawtimber.

Summary

The pulpwood problem is unlikely to improve in the near future. Planning for thinnings needs to be done well in advance. Unless you are a very experienced timber seller, you’ll probably need to work with a forestry consultant to get the results you desire.