Germany’s sawmilling sector is demanding expanded nationwide storage capacity for beetle-damaged spruce timber, warning that quality and processing viability collapse within roughly two years of tree death. That is according to the German Sawmill and Timber Industry Association (DeSH), which has backed the publication of new technical guidelines from NUKAFI — the Agency for Renewable Resources’ collaborative research project on the material utilisation potential and storage options for spruce-damaged timber.
Hundreds of thousands of hectares of German spruce forest have been damaged by the spruce bark beetle in recent years, generating volumes of compromised fibre that the country’s sawmills are struggling to process within viable quality windows. NUKAFI research found that properly treated damaged timber can remain usable as a raw material for extended periods, but that so-called deadwood stands face severe limitations after roughly two years, with declining quality and significant production disruption at the mill gate.
The new guidelines — titled Handling Spruce Damaged Timber — offer practical recommendations for forest owners, forestry companies, and wood-processing businesses, covering storage methods designed to stagger harvesting, marketing, and processing to preserve fibre quality over a longer period. The document also clearly identifies the limits of those methods, including occupational safety risks, potential quality losses, and heightened demands on logistics and quality control.
Julia Möbus, Managing Director of DeSH, said the technical solutions presented are only one part of a comprehensive response, and that matching policy commitment across all levels of government is now non-negotiable. “Science has shown the way — now it’s up to policymakers,” she said. “We need to expand storage capacities nationwide. The federal government, states, and municipalities must work together and develop a joint action plan for disaster management.”
Without expanded infrastructure, Möbus warned, Germany’s sawmill sector faces the loss of viable beetle-damaged fibre across hundreds of thousands of hectares — a two-year processing window, NUKAFI confirmed, that no amount of technical guidance alone can keep open.
