Running in the family: Närlant have been successfully selling Palax firewood processors in Sweden already for 25 years

Running in the family: Närlant have been successfully selling Palax firewood processors in Sweden already for 25 years

 Närlant Import, the Swedish importer of a wide variety of agricultural and forestry machines, was founded in 1975 by Sven-Göran Zetterman and is today run by his sons Martin and Eric. In addition to being family owned and with a long business history, Närlant Import has also expanded far geographically: with 55 dealers – 35 of them selling Palax firewood processors – the company reaches all corners of Sweden.

 “It was in 2001 that our father got to know the first firewood processor at an exhibition, and it was of course Palax,” Sales Director Martin Zetterman sums up Närlant’s history.” 25 years with one brand, Palax, so there must be something really great about it. “The greatest advantage of the Palax firewood processor – all models – is its ease of use,” says Martin. “The machine is also easy to clean, because you can open it underneath and remove any bark that has got into the system. And we certainly have a very good experience of the reliability of Palax machines.”

Palax ranks high

 Martin Zetterman says that Finnish technology in general has a very good reputation in Sweden. “This is largely due to the innovative, world-leading Finnish forest machines, which have also paved the way for other machines. As for the Palax brand, we are very happy that it is very high up in the ranking of firewood processors in Sweden, number 1 or 2. We have several long-time customers who know all the details about their Palax machines. And they spread the word about a really fast, easy-to-use machine.”

Närlant serves all kinds of customers from one-man operations to bigger, industrial-scale companies, which have multiple machines. Närlant´s operation covers the whole of Sweden and this includes service, which is handled by the dealers located near the end customers to ensure low downtime. All dealers are trained by Närlant’s three product experts. In addition to serving the Swedish market, Närlant is exporting shredders to Norway and Finland.

 Time changes things – or perhaps not?

Martin Zetterman says that during the time he has been in the firewood machine business, the customers and their needs have remained pretty much the same. “They want reliable machines,” Martin declares. “But the marketing of those machines has changed a lot. No more brochures but everything online plus the fact that everybody wants a demo, to test drive. And that’s why it is important that through our dealers we are close to the customers so we can organize those tests efficiently.”

The last few years have not been easy in the firewood business. Martin explains: “The war in Ukraine has caused things to stall things and first all the prices went up – electricity, oil and also wood. At the moment electricity and oil cost less but the price of wood is still high, so the market is still unstable. But I believe that things will improve in the long run.”

Well worth waiting for

Martin Zetterman has seen many developments in business, among them the launch of the C751 circular saw machine: “Traditionally, Palax chainsaw machines have been sold in Sweden, but the circular saw machine with single-cycle automation was an immediate hit when it was introduced last autumn. And that’s no wonder, because the C751 machine lets even the more inexperienced firewood producer become a professional. I know that the product was carefully designed and only launched when it had been perfected. Of course, we dealers were impatient to start selling it quickly. The wait was rewarded, the C751 circular saw machine has achieved a strong position in the Swedish market.”