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According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, in 2022, the global timber market entered a period of slowing demand, with timber prices in many regions experiencing fluctuations of both rising and falling. How to survive in challenging market and macroeconomic conditions has become a major challenge for global timber merchants.

For Europe, the events in Russia and Ukraine resulted in Europe rejecting timber supplies from Russia. Although Russia can transfer timber to regions such as China, Central Asia, and the Middle East, transportation issues have hindered the supply of Russian timber to non European regions. Johan Freij, a senior forestry expert at Dansk Bank in Sweden, believes that as a result, the Chinese market is increasingly purchasing timber from Europe, although this is only temporary, according to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation.

But in reality, Europe is in a period of supply beginning to shrink, and if the demand in the Chinese market continues to increase in the future, it is likely to push up the price of timber in the future. According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, Swedish wood prices were experiencing a significant decline in the first two quarters of last year. After autumn, Swedish wood prices are starting to rise significantly. However, this is not due to an increase in demand, but rather to a decrease in the supply of Swedish wood.

Looking back at the timber market in Sweden last year, Johan Freij, a senior forestry expert at Dansk Bank, said, "There are many signs that the timber market had bottomed out at that time, and we do not believe that there will be a typical economic reversal in timber prices. Construction in most parts of the world is also declining, so demand is also decreasing." Just as during the previous period of low prices in the Swedish timber market, Egypt and China rescued the Swedish timber market, And given the confidence of sawmills to increase prices when inventory decreases, the United States adopted an increase in imports into the Swedish wood market in 2022.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, in 2022, during the period of free fall in Swedish wood prices, the United States increased its imports of wood from Sweden and became the most important export market for wood products in Sweden, second only to the United Kingdom. This has reduced some losses in the Swedish timber market, at least as prices are cautiously rising. The Swedish timber market is a microcosm of the European timber market. The difficult year 2022 has passed, but the adverse global timber market conditions still lead to price fluctuations in the European timber market and the reduction of temporary factory capacity, further disrupting the timber supply chain, Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reported.