Timber sales got off to a sluggish start at the beginning of 2011, but picked up speed as summer approached. After the holiday season, sales activity rose to the highest level achieved all year and then calmed down as the end of the year drew nearer. The storms that ravaged forests in Finland right after Christmas did not yet affect timber sales volumes in December. The early part of the year was good from the viewpoint of timber harvesting, but the rainy autumn and early winter made felling and transport more difficult.Purchase volumes were down, and prices increased during the year. Pulpwood procurements were down 22 percent from the previous year and came down to 14.1 million cubic meters. On average, the stumpage prices of pine pulpwood was up four percent and spruce and birch pulpwood two percent.Regeneration felling sites provided more than half of the aggregate volume of purchased timber, while thinning sites accounted for a little over a third and first-thinning sites for 14 percent of all timber purchases. Two-thirds of pulpwood originated from thinning sites.