Stocks of wood are made, not only by households that heat with that firewood, but also by those that did not use it in previous years – they buy at least a few cubic meters as a reserve, if needed. Many times higher demand pushed up the prices as well, so you have to pay from eight to even 12 thousand dinars per cubic meter.
“In May, the price of wood was six thousand. We hear that it is twice as expensive now. I think that is unrealistic,” one citizen believes.
The most difficult situation is with the pellet. Despite the price limit of 38,000 per ton and the export ban, there is still a shortage on the market.
Suppliers say that there are fewer and fewer suppliers.
“Before the restrictions, you could find pellets at catastrophic prices, now we can’t even buy pellets anymore,” says the owner of the warehouse, Marko Vitorović.
Darko Marković from Brodarc points out that, instead of being the cheapest for heating, the pellet turned out to be the most expensive this year.
“We had to supplement with coal, and coal is hard to come by,” adds Marković.
The Ministry of Energy says that in the area of Leban, Brus and Knjaževac, the Army is engaged in logging with “Srbijašumé”, in order to secure additional quantities of wood.
Inspections continue to check both pellet producers and warehouses. So far, more than 60 misdemeanor charges have been filed.
State Secretary in the Ministry of Mining, Zoran Lakićević, says that the price of pellets is limited to 320 euros, but that some merchants sell pellets at a higher price.
“That’s why the importance of these inspections, market and tax, is to control and we will continue to do that,” Lakićević points out.
Many European households are returning to wood and coal stoves
In fear of the cold winter, many European households are returning wood and coal stoves. Residents from the area of the Greek capital took advantage of the pruning of parks to replenish their wood supply for free.
Municipal environmental activist in Athens Nikos Kaios says they joined forces with citizens and cleared the forest.
“Instead of all this wood from tree trimming going to waste, we joined forces with the residents. We cleared the forest and the citizens will receive help for the winter,” Kaiosis adds.
Paraskevi Galari points out that the only heating they have is wood, for the fireplace, and electric heaters, which will be very difficult to turn on this year, because they cannot afford to pay for electricity.
There are also waiting lists at European warehouses for solid firewood, and wood and coal are mostly bought in sacks.
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