Timber Harvesting's 2020 Business Outlook & Covid-19 Impact Survey

Across the nation, 311 loggers participated in the Timber Harvesting 2020 Business Outlook & Virus Impact Survey, conducted from mid April through the end of May 2020.

Asked to list all the ways the viral economy has affected their operations, loggers responded with three big issues:

• 71% Cited Mill Quotas

• 61% Lost Revenues

• 59% Mill Downtime

More than a third (34%) of loggers have seen lowered logging rates, and 27% have delayed equipment purchases as a result.

Additional impacts include employee layoffs (11% of loggers), and downsizing one or more crews (7%).

Longer hauls are in the mix for 13% of loggers, and more than one out of every five (22%) have had logger certification or safety training sessions delayed.

Asked to rate their top three business concerns, loggers overwhelmingly said maintaining markets, cited by 82%. Next biggest concern is logging rates, cited by 48% of loggers. The third biggest concern is a virtual dead heat between two issues: 41% of loggers said insurance costs—particularly for trucking—followed closely by weather, cited by 40% of loggers.

Source: http://www.timberharvesting.com/survey-details-outlook-virus-impact/