ONF Nevers Autumn Sale – 2023

Friday October 6 was the traditional Autumn timber sale of the ONF Bourgogne-Ouest agency (Nièvre and Yonne), in Clamecy.

8:30 am, Romain-Rolland room, 1st floor of the Town Hall. The room is filling up fast. The bidding is about to begin. Among 30 or so buyers present, or on videoconference, Maison Charlois is well represented, with 4 buyers ready to do battle. One by one, parcels are put up for bidding. The auction lasts 20 seconds, no more. Calculators are out. At Charlois, we know the drill.
“We know all parcels by heart. We know in advance which ones we want to buy and why,” says Boris, his eyes glued to the sales catalog. We anticipate upcoming parcels, those we really don’t want to miss, such as those in Bertranges, near Murlin. The Nevers autumn timber sale is always an event.

The atmosphere is studious, with buyers talking in hushed tones and spying on the competition. Today, auctions are conducted by computerized bidding.

123 items were put up for auction. An opportunity to review the communal (1/3) and state-owned (2/3) forests of the Nièvre and Yonne departments. From Guérigny to Prémery, passing through Asnan and Beaumont woods, a part of Burgundy’s forest heritage is reviewed, testifying to local richness in oak trees. Each parcel is detailed in a catalog: its number, its orientation (north, south, east, west), the species of wood (95% oak), and the number of trees harvested. ONF is responsible for selecting the trees. These are mature trees, and removals are lower than the forest’s growth rate. Taking all species together, oaks destined for cooperage represent barely 1% of annual timber volume.

For almost three hours, the various lots were sold one by one, bringing joy to some and disappointment to others. In all, 28,000 m3 were sold on Friday October 6, 2023, for a total of six million euros. Maison Charlois, for its part, purchased 45 lots, or 8,000 m3, of rare and precious oak to supply its cooperages, confirming its position as France’s leading oak buyer. The event continued on Murlin’s site with traditional timber sale meals.

Forest photo © Christophe Deschanel

Nevers 2023 sales photo © Stéphane Ebel