{"id":77933,"date":"2019-08-13T10:51:02","date_gmt":"2019-08-13T10:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tin.happy-projects.ro\/european-hardwood-industry-still-strong-despite-slow-construction-sector\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T08:51:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T08:51:23","slug":"european-hardwood-industry-still-strong-despite-slow-construction-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.timberindustrynews.com\/ro\/european-hardwood-industry-still-strong-despite-slow-construction-sector\/","title":{"rendered":"European hardwood industry still strong despite slow construction sector"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to latest Eurostat figures, building construction contracted by 0.2% in May over April 2019, while civil engineering output was down 0.5%. Sharpest decreases in construction output were reported in Romania, down 7.6%, Finland 3.1% and Sweden 2.9%. Best performance was in Slovenia, with output up 4.1%, France 1.9% and the Netherlands 1.4%.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

However, overall construction was still ahead year on year, with the May figure for the euro area 2% up on the same month in 2018 and 2.5% for the EU 28. Strongest improvements were reported from Hungary, with annual output 26.2% up, followed by Romania, up 23.8% and Slovenia 11.1%. The biggest output falls were in Finland, down 1.6% and Belgium 1.5%.<\/p>\n

According to trade media coverage, the EU timber seems so far to be broadly benefiting from the continuing robust domestic consumption reported by ECFin, and as yet largely unaffected by the more cautious economic forecasts.<\/p>\n

One leading continental Europe-based international hardwood trader told the UK magazine Timber Trades Journal that it had experienced a robust first half, with business underpinned by construction sector consumption.<\/p>\n

It was also heading into the second six months \u2018in a good position\u2019 and, underlining its confidence in the market longer term, had significantly expanded warehousing.<\/p>\n

Quoted in the same publication, French hardwood suppliers said that they were investing in production and storage capacity to meet anticipated demand.<\/p>\n

In the latest European Timber Trade Federation Newsletter, Germany\u2019s timber trade federation GD Holz said that the country\u2019s timber sector generally had a strong first four months of the year, despite the country\u2019s wider economic deceleration reported by ECFin, notably in manufacturing. German timber sales were up 6.4%, with planed goods and garden products performing especially well, ahead 13% and 18% respectively on 2018.<\/p>\n

With German construction forecast to grow 8.5% this year, GD Holz expressed confidence in the timber sector\u2019s prospects for the second half. Interestingly, it also detected increasing market awareness of timber\u2019s climate change and wider environmental benefits, which it said had potential to boost demand further.<\/p>\n

Belgian trade federation Fedustria reported a dip in business confidence in 2019 to the ETTF Newsletter, but this followed 3.6% growth in turnover to \u20ac3.135 billion in 2018 and two years of significant capital investment, which hit a record \u20ac156 million in 2017. The key Belgian furniture sector, meanwhile, reported an 18% rise in capital spending last year to \u20ac96 million.<\/p>\n

The UK is the main exception in the \u2018broadly stable and satisfactory\u2019 European timber market, as one importer described it. It is more downbeat and reports its outlook worsening as the year has progressed. Importers say customers are ordering on an increasingly just-in-time basis, with forward and speculative buying \u2018virtually nonexistent\u2019.<\/p>\n

Companies attribute difficult trading conditions almost uniformly to UK-EU Brexit negotiations and the related domestic political upheaval and uncertainty.<\/p>\n

As one leading importer told the UK TTJ: \u2018\u2019UK market fundamentals are still reasonably strong; jobs growth is continuing, average earnings are forecast to rise 3.6% this year and inflation is steady at 2%,\u201d he said. \u201cBut businesses and consumers just aren\u2019t buying, and it has to be due to Brexit. The evidence is across the market place.<\/p>\n

UK retail sales saw their sharpest fall in May for a decade.<\/p>\n

The Construction Products Association has also downgraded its 2019 forecast for building output growth to just 0.4%. Especially concerning for hardwood sector are bleak prospects in retail construction, forecast to contract 10% this year and next.\u201d<\/p>\n

UK hardwood companies said it was also difficult to know how best to prepare for the UK leaving the EU, given continued lack of clarity on their future trading relationship. Some importers had increased stocks ahead of the original target date for Brexit of March 29 against potential customs and port bottlenecks.<\/p>\n

They were reported subsequently left with surplus stocks, which efforts to sell since are said to have contributed to price cutting. Now companies are more cautious about hedging tactics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hardwood import trade is also generally less well equipped than say the softwood sector to build up its stock position,\u201d said an importer. \u201cYou need the timber availability, somewhere to keep it and the funds to buy it.<\/p>\n

As generally small to medium sized businesses, and with our longer lead times, it\u2019s less of an option for us on all three counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

UK companies are concerned too about the operation of the EUTR and FLEGT regulations post Brexit. Both are being adopted into UK law, but UK importers will have to undertake due diligence on all purchases from the EU and, it seems, validate FLEGT licences on EU imports. The anticipated increase in administrative cost and time is reported already to be persuading smaller businesses that import intermittently to buy instead via larger UK-based importers and agents.<\/p>\n

Importers in the rest of the EU have also voiced concerns over their UK business after Brexit and reported that the related market uncertainty was already proving disruptive for them too.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur UK hardwood trade has become very competitive, with construction projects put on hold and some companies offering timber at low rates, particularly African,\u201d said one company. \u201cAnd we\u2019re still unclear on some key issues, such as whether UK customers after Brexit will become \u2018operators\u2019 under the EUTR, even if the timber is EUTR compliant when arriving in mainland Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Highlighting EU-wide concerns, Fedustria reported that it took part in a Federation of Belgian Business mission to London to discuss Brexit trade impacts. It also ran a special seminar for members on prospective changes in customs processing for UK-Belgian trade and the possible impacts on VAT.<\/p>\n

On a more positive note, the UK and Indonesia have underlined their continued mutual commitment to their trade in FLEGT licensed timber post Brexit as part of wider business and development cooperation. This included development of a UK-Indonesian [FLEGT] Partnership Agreement to succeed the EU FLEGT VPA in any new bilateral relationship.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to latest Eurostat figures, building construction contracted by 0.2% in May over April 2019, while civil engineering output was down 0.5%. Sharpest decreases in construction output were reported in Romania, down 7.6%, Finland 3.1% and Sweden 2.9%. Best performance … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4716,4715],"tags":[3563,3426,3410],"class_list":["post-77933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-trends","category-market-analysis","tag-construction","tag-european","tag-sector","topic-forestry","topic-sawmilling","topic-wood-construction","area-europe"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEuropean hardwood industry still strong despite slow construction sector - Timber Industry News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.timberindustrynews.com\/ro\/european-hardwood-industry-still-strong-despite-slow-construction-sector\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ro_RO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"European hardwood industry still strong despite slow construction sector - Timber Industry News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to latest Eurostat figures, building construction contracted by 0.2% in May over April 2019, while civil engineering output was down 0.5%. 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