Bucking-to-demand improves the match between sawmill demand and log supply in Norway. Erlend Nybakk*, Terje Birkeland*, Knut Finstad** *The Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute ** Norsk Treteknisk Institutt Abstract This study is based on a certain case with the largest Norwegian Forest Association (Viken Skog BA) as timber seller and Haselstad Bruk AS buyer of saw logs. The objective of the study is to adopt a more effective, accurate and market-oriented timber production system in the south-east of Norway using bucking-to-demand. A bucking simulator called OptApt is further developed with the addition of a function for near-optimal bucking-to-demand, to evaluate this bucking regime in relation to the traditional bucking-to-value approach used under Norwegian conditions, which means large variations in forests when it comes to dimensions and quality between, but also within, regions and stands. A bucking-to-value optimization system has been used to apply price matrices in bucking control to maximize the value of single stems and thereby the income of Norwegian forest owners. This system has improved the possibilities for timber customization, but the differences between the demand and the output sawlog distribution are still significant. Hence, a new bucking system, called bucking-to-demand, was developed in Sweden in the late 1980s and introduced also in Finland. To better meet the demand of single sawmills, the harvesters used a new demand matrix in addition to the price list. This system has been improved and adapted to Norwegian conditions. The new simulator helps both sawmills and the seller of timber to adapt the timber production more easily and to see the effects of varying demand, price lists and stand properties. The bucking-to-demand procedure gives a more homogeneous timber production from stands with different properties and improves the timber production also in areas with big variation in stand properties. Our study showed an improved timber outcome. The apportionment degree for the saw logs, which gives information about the dimensional match between demand and actual output, increased 8 % with only 3 % value discrepancy allowed. The actual value loss compared to the price matrix was significant lower. Keywords: harvesting, market-oriented timber production, bucking-to-value, near-optimal bucking-to-demand Introduction and theoretical background Recently there has been an increased focus towards market-oriented and customized timber delivery in the forest and sawmill industry in Norway. This has, to a great extent, been a matter of the possibility of affecting the timber outcome when developing functional instructions for bucking, as well as the correct way of using these instructions. Functional instructions for bucking include the operating framework for harvesting, including log type, its pricelists, and requirements for dimension and quality. Both the sawmills’ needs and the