Entrepreneurs sound the alarm because of the increase in wood prices and its low availability.The State Forests - the main supplier of this raw material to the Polish market - argue that prices remain stable and they do not see a shortage.Moreover, they are introducing new regulations that will give priority to purchasing firewood for individual customers.What are the facts?The forest and wood sector is an important part of the Polish economy, it generates 2.7 percent.GDP and employs over 460,000.people.Poland is the world's second largest producer of furniture, the third producer of windows and doors and one of the largest (top ten) producers of sawn timber (boards, logs, battens and other elements produced during the processing of round wood).It is no wonder then that traders follow timber prices like brokers stock indices on the stock exchange.In turn, the main supplier of wood to the Polish market is the State Forests, which cover over 90 percent.the demand of the domestic industry and inhabitants.Every year, the raw material from the State Forests is purchased by approx. 7 thousand.domestic companies of all sizes.The vast majority of all harvested wood goes to them.For many years, foresters have offered entrepreneurs the raw material in two most important online procedures: in the offer sale on the Forest and Wood Portal, enabling the purchase of raw material for customers who have already purchased from the State Forests, and at system auctions in the e-wood application, available to all entrepreneurs.Moreover, the prices of the raw material specified in the contracts are constant throughout their duration.Wood industry representatives often accuse the State Forests of raising wood prices.Wrong.However, as it turns out, producers and sellers have a huge impact on the increase in final prices of products.In 2021, the prices of wood products grew much faster and more intensively than the prices of the raw material from which these products are made.An excellent example of illustrating this trend is the OSB board, which is popular on the construction market.According to the report of Polskie Sklady Budowlane, in September 2021, compared to September 2020, the prices of OSB boards increased by 125%.In the same period, the price of S2A (SO S2A) pine raw material, from which this board is produced, increased by ... 10 percent at the State Forests National Forest Holding, and from the beginning of the year by an average of only 2 percent, reaching the price level of 2019 .The claim that raising the prices of roundwood by a few percent resulted in a 125 percent increase in product prices is an example of data manipulation and shifting responsibility for the rises to suppliers.The State Forests run a responsible and sustainable forest management on the basis of the laws and government regulations and acts of EU law, also in the field of nature protection.This means, inter alia, that the volume of harvested wood results from the implementation of a 10-year forest management plan, strictly defined for each forest district in Poland.Each plan is developed by experts, and after extensive public consultations, it is each time approved by the Minister of Climate and Environment.The size of the harvest is not affected by market changes, economic conditions or differences in the demand or price of wood on the free market.The State Forests do not operate like a commercial company which, observing the increased demand, increases production and raises prices.The fundamental goal of any plan is to maintain the sustainability of the forest, preserve its ecosystem and maintain the continuity of all the functions that the forest performs.The importance of wood as a raw material is growing, especially in the face of the turmoil in the energy market.The currently observed geopolitical situation has contributed to the fact that Poles are becoming more and more interested in firewood.And wood in Poland has always been an important energy resource.Heating apartments with wood is an element of tradition.Poles do not discover wood, but simply return to it.The State Forests have always fulfilled social needs with respect for the natural environment.The organization will make firewood available to Poles without damaging the forest nature.The wood will be harvested up to the limit defined by the forest management plans, and its price will remain at the current level.The State Forests will offer larger amounts of firewood for individual customers, focusing additionally on the harvesting of artificial trees, i.e. individual trees and groups of trees that have been, for example, broken by storms or have died recently.Such situations usually lead to damage to the wood and limit its use in processing.Of course, a significant part of the firewood also appears during the planned harvest.Each time the wood is harvested, a certain part of it does not meet the standards provided for processing.Thicker branches, tops and the thinnest trunks are also used as fuel.Thus, fuel will appear on the market when normally scheduled forest works are carried out.The price of firewood will not be increased in the coming months.Stacked wood, defined according to the standards by the symbol S4 (rollers 1.2 or 2.5 m long, prepared thanks to the efforts of the forestry inspectorate), currently costs one hundred and several dozen zlotys per cubic meter.The price varies depending on the type of wood.Those with higher caloric content (oak, beech, birch) are more expensive.The cheapest variant is wood marked with the symbol M2 (general cargo).In a situation where the buyer prepares them himself (stacks them ready for measurement), the price may be as high as about PLN 30 / cubic meter.The State Forests do not export wood.This is a myth that is often reproduced in popular opinion.Wood is sold to all legally operating economic entities and individual recipients (households).Foreign contractors account for a small part of them.In 2021, it was only 39 companies, all registered only in the European Union.The remaining 6161 enterprises with which the State Forests cooperate in the sale of raw material are Polish companies.No company registered in China, as well as in other countries outside the EU, bought wood directly from the State Forests.What entrepreneurs do with the purchased timber remains their individual decision and a manifestation of economic freedom.Whether the buyer will export the raw material or process it on site and to what extent it will do so is its autonomous law, which the State Forests cannot interfere with.Nevertheless, in the rules for the sale of wood, which are in force for the years 2022–2023, the State Forests introduced additional elements of the offer evaluation, promoting wood processing within the European Union.Such solutions are legal measures that can be taken by the State Forests to further support companies operating on the Community market.