Fencing prices hit £80 a panel as timber shortage prompts panic-buying on black market

Desperate customers are willing to buy an illicit fencing panel for as much as £80 after many DIY stores sold out.

Several chains are also offering worn or shop- soiled stock to satisfy demand.

The problem has been made worse by panic buying as customers rush to snap up the remaining fencing panels before they are sold.

There are three main reasons for the shortage, experts say.

Shipments of timber intended for Britain have been diverted to the booming economies of China and Dubai, where building firms are prepared to pay over the odds.

At the same time, a wet summer has meant the softwood timber harvest in Sweden, Russia and the Baltics has been smaller than usual.

Fierce gales in January and February have left Britain's fences in their worst shape for years.

As a result, demand at one chain of builders' merchants, Travis Perkins, is 300 per cent higher than last year, with many other firms also doing a roaring trade.

The problem was revealed by Amateur Gardening Magazine.

Hilary Baker, chief executive of the Fencing Contractors Association, warned that several small and medium- sized timber suppliers in Britain - who convert the European softwood into fencing panels - are 'on the verge of ruin'.

She said the shortage of panels has led to panic buying by DIY enthusiasts. "It's a bit like a bread shortage. Joe Public goes out and buys loads," Mrs Baker added.

"I spoke to one contractor who normally stocks 3,000 panels and now he has none. Someone else drove 60 miles to buy one fencing panel. It is absolutely crazy."

She went on: "The Fencing Contractors Association is working closely with its members and the industry to assist with this prolonged crisis but urges customers to be understanding of the problems and not to 'panic the prices up'."

Forest Garden, one of Britain's largest fencing wholesalers, has a backlog of 25,000 orders for panels.

Kingfisher, the firm that owns B&Q, said the DIY store is still receiving weekly supplies of traditional lap fencing panels, but added that these are selling out 'very quickly'.

Some DIY stores are becoming so protective of what little stock of fencing panels they have left that they are even refusing to release it to other stores within the same chain.

One enthusiast, writing on an Internet blog about his damaged fence, said he was not surprised the Chinese are keen on fencing, given that they built the Great Wall.

He added: "I am waiting until the Chinese fencing boom is over.

"Next it will be a shortage of creosote as the Chinese get down to the task of preserving the panels."

However, help could soon be at hand as suppliers in Germany, Canada and Latvia gear up to meet the shortfall in the UK market.