IHC 2015: No real recovery in hardwood consuming sectors

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ITTO/Fordaq
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During this year's International Hardwood Conference (IHC) held in Copenhagen from 16-18 September, ETTF President Andreas von Möller spoke about recent trends in the European sawn hardwood market from the perspective of importers. He noted that at a European level, key hardwood-consuming industries in Europe - including construction, furniture, wood flooring and windows - had shown little or no recovery since the financial crises. He also stressed that developments differed greatly from one European country to the next.

The furniture industry, for example, which EU-wide was still below pre-crisis levels in 2014, was growing strongly in Poland. Construction is good in Germany and the UK and recovering in Spain and the Netherlands, while France and Italy are still experiencing a downward trend.

More positively, Mr. von Möller noted that total imports of sawn hardwood into the EU28 were 1.97 million m3 in 2014, a rise of 9% compared to 2013. Imports have also continued to rise in 2015, reaching 1.1 million m3 in the first five months of the year, up 11% compared to the same period in 2014.

However Mr. von Möller echoed Mr. Oliver‘s assessment that temperate hardwoods have generally performed better than tropical hardwoods in the EU market in recent years. EU imports of temperate sawn hardwood were 1.10 million m3 in 2014, 12% up on the previous year and 41% down compared to before the financial crisis.

This compares to tropical sawn hardwood of which 960,000 m3 were imported in 2014, 5% up on the previous year but still 63% down compared to before the financial crisis. Much of the gain in EU imports of sawn hardwood in 2015 is due to rising trade with Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

Mr. von Möller also reported that the latest sawn hardwood import data indicates widely varying market conditions between EU member states this year. Imports declined in several large EU markets in the first five months of 2015, including the UK, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. In fact amongst the five largest markets, only Belgium has increased imports this year.

However imports into several smaller EU markets have registered double-digit percentage growth this year including Poland, Austria, Lithuania, Spain, Estonia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Ireland and Croatia.

Mr. von Möller went on to identify a number of key trends in the European sawn hardwood sector. Darker woods are currently favoured compared to light/reddish coloured timbers. In flooring, there continues to be a fashion for wider planks, particularly with ―rustic character. Narrow planks with ―plastic appearance lacking character and natural features are less favoured.

He noted that there is regular on-going substitution – driven by price fluctuations and exchange rates – between American tulipwood and beech on the one hand, and a range of tropical species on the other, including wawa/ayous/obeche and limba.

Distribution networks for sawn hardwood in Europe have also undergone profound change since the financial crises. Generally there is now a strong preference for sourcing internally from elsewhere in Europe rather than importing from overseas.

There‘s much less willingness on the part of many European manufacturers and distributors to hold stock and a strong preference for buying from other European operators as and when products are needed. European operators are now much more inclined than in the past to spend time searching around a wide range of suppliers for the lowest price rather than to depend on a few regular suppliers.

There‘s also a much greater tendency to buy mixed container loads with smaller volumes of product in each specification than to buy full container loads of a single specification.

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