The situation in the German timber industry is clouding over despite increased sales in the first half.\u00a0This is what the latest HDH (Main association of the German Wood Industry)\u00a0economic indicator for August 2022 suggests.\u00a0According to the mood picture determined by the Munich-based ifo Institute, companies were significantly less satisfied with their current business.<\/p>\n
The outlook for the coming months remains pessimistic.\u00a0Inflation, higher financing costs, rising energy and material prices and the threat of gas shortages are having a negative impact on the industry.\u00a0Uncertainty among companies remains high.\u00a0According to estimates by the leading German economic researchers, German economic output is likely to shrink as early as the third quarter.<\/p>\n
However, against the background of strong inflation in the first half of 2022, sales in the German timber industry increased by 25.4% compared to the same period of the previous year.\u00a0By far the strongest plus was recorded in the wooden packaging sector with a sales increase of 55.6%.\u00a0The growth in the sawmill and wood-based material industries was much more limited, with increases of 33% and 25.2% respectively.<\/p>\n
Like the turnover, the mood in the individual sectors of the timber industry continued to vary greatly.\u00a0Companies in the wood-based materials industry, in the wood packaging industry and in the construction-related area of \u200b\u200bthe wood industry assess their current business situation as positive.<\/p>\n
However, expectations in all segments indicated negative developments in the coming months.\u00a0In particular, the German sawmill industry, the wood-based materials industry and prefabricated timber construction are currently looking pessimistically to the future: These segments expect the business situation to deteriorate significantly in the next six months.\u00a0From the point of view of the HDH, this is mainly due to the deterioration in consumer sentiment and the declining demand for construction.<\/p>\n
Specifically, the indicator value for assessing the current situation fell by 24.5 points to just +11.4 points. The outlook for the next six months remained gloomy with an index value of -60.9 points (previous month: -63.5 points). Overall, the economic indicator fell by just under 8 to -28.5 points in August. The business climate in the German timber industry was thus even worse than in the manufacturing industry as a whole, for which the ifo Institute determined a value of -6.9 points, unchanged from the previous month.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The situation in the German timber industry is clouding over despite increased sales in the first half.\u00a0This is what the latest HDH (Main association of the German Wood Industry)\u00a0economic indicator for August 2022 suggests.\u00a0According to the mood picture determined by … Continue reading