Often, the product has a strong influence on the price a buyer can pay for standing timber. The end product makes a difference in the amount buyers will bid for a landowner's timber. Knowledge of forest products is fundamental to helping forest landowners effectively market timber. For example, if a landowner fails to realize that 30 percent of his pine timber can produce poles, he is less likely to receive that added value. Therefore, a basic understanding of the major forest product groups is essential to helping landowners get the highest price when marketing their timber.
Pulpwood accounts for about one-third of the annual harvest value of Mississippi's forest products.
It is defined as wood cut primarily to be a source of wood fiber for the production of paper, fiberboard, or other fiber products. These trees are cut following a sawtimber harvest or as a separate operation to thin a crowded stand. Sometimes, low-quality stands are completely harvested for pulpwood to regenerate the forest to more desirable species. Also, larger trees that have disease or defects that prevent their use for lumber will be used as pulpwood. Pulpwood is often measured in cords or, more recently, in tons.