A sycamore maple was the single most expensive log: it was sold for more than EUR 12,300 to an Italian buyer.

"What we have seen is only the cherry on top of a pie that is actually considerably larger," Forest Service director general Damjan Oražem told the press Thursday as he presented the results of the recent auction.

The organisers are satisfied with the figures, with more than 400 forest owners presenting a total of 2,295 logs. The majority came from Slovenia, while the auction also saw high-quality logs from Austria, Italy and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The quality of timber has been assessed as very good, but this year's auction failed to break the individual record from four years ago, when a single sycamore maple log was sold for more than EUR 16,500.

Oražem noted that only a fraction of timber that had been presented at the auctions in Slovenj Gradec so far came from state-owned forests. He hopes that this will change with the emerging state-owned forest management company.

"The auction is not only about selling wood, it can also teach owners, foresters and us organisers how to assess which wood is the best and most appreciated," added Jože Jeromel of the local forestry association.