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Representatives of European timber companies focused on the current market situation and prospects for the second half of the year at the European Timber Trade Conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Among the member countries, timber trade generally increased in the first quarter of 2022, and individual countries maintained a growth trend in the second quarter, especially for the construction industry and construction timber, solid wood and wood shavings products. On the other hand, the market size of DIY in Europe is declining; Spain and France are particularly mentioned.

Regarding the timber market in different regions, in Germany, the demand for the timber market continued to grow in the first quarter of 2022, followed by a slowdown in the second quarter, which may extend to the second half of 2022.

In Spain, the first half of 2022 was strong and this is expected to continue until the end of August. However, consumer confidence is falling, prices are rising and orders are shrinking. In addition, households are shifting their budgets to other spending items and consumption of plywood is falling. Therefore, the market outlook for the third quarter is even less optimistic.

In France, timber trade continued to grow in the first quarter of 2022, but slowed markedly in the second quarter, especially to DIY stores, especially for outdoor furniture products. However, the French construction sector can maintain relatively high growth until at least the end of the year.

Construction starts are expected to decline in 2023. It should be noted that some project owners have delayed their projects due to high prices of wood products. These projects may be restarted when prices drop.

In Italy, temperate and tropical hardwood imports fell in 2021, but softwood lumber imports continued to grow. The Russian-Ukrainian military conflict has had a major impact on the Italian timber market. Timber producers are facing the challenge of continued increases in raw material prices, and the panel sector is experiencing difficulties due to rising energy costs. A slowdown is expected in the third and fourth quarters.

The Netherlands is a traditional timber importing country, and the timber trade has also been affected by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. But its domestic stock of birch plywood remains high. Research is underway to find alternatives using tree species such as poplar or radiata pine.

In Belgium, while the EU has tightened sanctions on imported timber from Russia, the timber supply chain in South America is still unstable, putting pressure on its domestic timber market. The current rising prices of raw materials, glues, labor and energy are severely constraining the construction market.

In Denmark, timber imports and trade remained good in the first quarter of 2022. Some construction projects have been delayed due to shortages of raw materials and lack of labor.

According to the information disclosed by the European Timber Trade Federation, the timber trade of most member countries still maintained a relatively high growth in the first quarter of this year, but generally showed a weak growth trend in the second quarter. Combined with the current rapidly rising inflation in Europe and high energy prices, the growth of the European construction market in the second half of the year will be restricted. It will also adversely affect European wood consumption in the second half of the year.