Träribor

Träribor is a proposed benchmark interest rate intended to reflect borrowing costs within the timber and wood products sector in Nordic markets. The name combines trä, the Swedish word for wood, with the LIBOR tradition of interbank offered rates. The idea is to provide a sector-specific reference rate for loans, derivatives, and other financing arrangements tied to timber demand and pricing.

Calculation and governance: A panel of authorized banks would report their indicative unsecured funding costs in the relevant tenor, and a published rate would be produced daily using a robust aggregation method (for example, a trimmed mean or median, with pre-specified outlier rules). Tenors could range from overnight to one year, with an agreed fallback mechanism if liquidity is insufficient.

Administration: The rate would be published by a governance body in coordination with a financial regulator or market-standards organization. Rules would cover eligibility, submission timing, data quality controls, and historical transparency.

Applications: Market participants would use träribor as a reference for loans, lines of credit, and derivative contracts linked to timber financing. It could complement existing benchmarks such as LIBOR-style rates and be pegged to maturities relevant to the forestry sector.

Status: There is no widely adopted real-world träribor; it remains a theoretical construct or in early pilots. Proponents argue it would improve relevance for timber lending, while critics note data availability, potential manipulation risks, and the need for broad market participation and implementable governance.

Related benchmarks: LIBOR, EURIBOR, STIBOR, and sector-specific rates.