Due to the widespread practise of pruning radiata pine trees in New Zealand there will be a substantial amount of timber free of knots to sell in the future. This timber is called "clearwood". A method is presented for determining what prices clearwood might fetch in any particular country/ market. Part one outlines the history of pruning in New Zealand. The main reason for it is to achieve a larger profit through the higher prices paid for clearwood. Radiata pine clearwood is of comparable quality to selected clear softwood timbers from North America. Only its wide ring width is a significant disadvantage. Due to competition from within New Zealand, up to 75 to 85% of future clearwood production will be exported. Part two presents timber prices in the USA for different grades of Douglas fir/larch, hemlock/fir, ponderosa pine and southern pines. Prices paid for select timber grades are rising disproportionately ahead Of structural grades. However the reason for this trend and the length of time it will continue is difficult to ascertain. Part three outlines the method. The price paid for a clear grade of an equivalent timber is used to predict a price for clearwood on that market. Applying this method to the USA market reveals that clearwood would be viewed as equivalent hemlock/fir. Prices paid for these timbers indicate that around $US280/m 3 could be paid for clearwood. Part four applies the method to the markets of New Zealand, Australia and Japan. However, the lack of significant volumes of competing softwood timbers prevents this method being effective when applied to the New Zealand market. The method would be effective for the Japanese and Australian markets, but not enough is known about softwood timber prices in these countries to determine a price for clearwood in them.