It will not have escaped your notice, no Indian summer at the end of September and beginning of October 2024. Some are saying that winter is slowly starting to set in and that it is time to think about heating. In Ariège, orders and deliveries of wood follow one another. Reporting.
The essentials of the day: our exclusive selection
Every day, our editorial team reserves the best regional news for you. A selection just for you, to stay in touch with your regions.
France Télévisions uses your email address to send you the newsletter “Today’s essentials: our exclusive selection”. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link at the bottom of this newsletter. Our privacy policy
In the courtyard of the Mercus-Garrabet logging company, in Ariège, piles of pieces of wood. steres of oak and beech, intended for heating. And the customers are already there, the door of their van open, to fill up to face the winter. “I live in the hamlet of Mouragues, just next to Foix. I came here to look for wood. I wanted really dry wood because I ran out of it this year“, Vaughan Bateman tells us while loading his cargo.
The Mercus-Garrabet logging company, in Ariège, delivers to eight to ten homes per day at the beginning of October.
•
© Pascal Dussol / FTV
Aline Moneyn is preparing to start her daily tour. Every day, from May to January, she travels across the department to deliver firewood to around ten homes. “There, the cold slowly begins to set in. At the moment, we are making between eight and ten deliveries per day” she said while driving her truck. Direction Saint-Jean-de-Verge where Alain Leclerc, a regular customer, placed an order for 700 euros of wood.
Wood is cheaper in addition to gas heating.
80% of Ariège’s forests belong to private owners. The logging company obtains the majority of its supplies from them in order to ensure stocks. “A large part of the wood is purchased from the ONF and otherwise, we go to the forest and buy from private owners, mainly in Ariège.“, confirms Florence Basaia, sales manager of Alves Bois. Sometimes, the operating company also goes to Aude or Haute-Garonne.
READ ALSO: Faced with soaring energy prices, firewood, a new outlet for forestry operations
“There have been no more requests for 2-3 years, then we have to be able to find good wood: beech and oak are not easy to find because everyone wants them,” explains Florence Basaia. .
•
© Justine Salles / FTV
The demand? “We have had no more requests for two or three years. Afterwards, you have to find good wood. Beech and oak are not easy to find because everyone wants them. Sometimes it’s a bit complicated“, recognizes the sales manager.
READ ALSO: Rising energy prices: demand for firewood is exploding, “we cannot serve all customers”
“In our mountains, we still have quite a few people who have old houses with fireplace inserts. It heats very well. And wood is still cheaper compared to EDF or fuel“, estimates Florence Basaia, who says she doesn’t really fear competition from wood pellets. There is room for everyone on the market.
Wood is the leading source of renewable energy in France. This fuel represented 42% of green energy production, far ahead of hydraulics at 19% in 2020. And 70% of renewable heat production.
And in Ariège, the time has come for the diversification of the wood industry under the leadership of the Chamber of Agriculture. “Wood chips for animal bedding, removal of wood from the forests with a forestry trailer and the melter cutter for the production of firewood logs, lists Antoine Yunes, forestry advisor at the Ariège Chamber of Agriculture. The melter cutter produces on average per year between 2000 and 2500 steres.”
More than 50% of the Ariège territory is wooded, which represents approximately 250,000 hectares of forests.
