Europe’s sawmills are waiting for construction demand to recover while preparing for a more difficult raw material market. The final session of the International Softwood Conference examined the changing supply of Central European logs, the uneven outlook for European building activity, the prospects for global timber consumption and the investment needed to connect forest management with a larger market for wood in construction. GWMI concludes its detailed coverage from Dublin.

The fourth and final session of ISC 2026 brought the discussion back to the relationship between forests, sawmills and the customers buying their products. Earlier presentations had examined individual producing countries and export destinations. The closing session considered how those markets might develop together, and whether the industry’s existing production base is suited to the conditions ahead.

The immediate commercial problem remains weak demand. Housebuilding has yet to recover convincingly in several major European markets, China is buying fewer logs, and repeated expectations of a stronger second half have disappointed producers. Yet the longer-term supply outlook is also becoming more difficult. Cheap salvage wood is less abundant, spruce resources are changing, and mills face greater uncertainty over the species, dimensions and volumes they will receive.

These developments do not follow the same timetable. A sawmill can be short of orders while paying more for logs. A construction market can have a severe housing shortage while developers postpone projects. Governments can encourage timber construction while the forests supplying that industry become more exposed to drought, insects and fire.