The slump in sales of almost all wood products has been overwhelming the entire German timber industry for several months. Sawmills continue to have massive difficulties selling lumber. As a consequence, the production volume in the sawmills had to be significantly reduced. And due to the difficult timber market situation, there is hardly any normal use anymore, report forest owners. In addition, wood prices have fallen sharply. The outlook for the near future is not much better.<\/p>\n
There are many reasons for the crisis on the timber market<\/strong><\/p>\n German forest owners and sawmills cite two reasons for the crisis on the timber market. On the one hand, the massive decline in the construction industry , and on the other hand, an oversupply of sawn timber in Germany and Europe. At the same time, wood prices on the export markets are also under pressure and sales are stalling. On the other hand, an\u202f oversupply of wood is building up , mainly caused by the bark beetle . In addition, there is also wind-thrown wood from the thunderstorms of the last few months. This means that only small sales volumes will probably be possible for forest farmers and forest owners in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n Construction industry crashes \u2013 construction and industrial timber is crashing<\/strong><\/p>\n The massive\u202f problems in the construction industry in Germany \u202fbut also in the USA are the main reasons for the slump in sawmill sales . The President of the Central Association of German Crafts (ZDH ), J\u00f6rg Dittrich, has warned of a collapse in the construction industry.<\/p>\n \u201cThe\u202f construction industry , with its 2.33 million employees, \u202fis a key industry for the skilled trades . And this sector is currently in danger of collapsing completely,\u201d said Dittrich. Projects that were decided and financed several years ago are still being processed. However, construction financing for future projects has collapsed massively. According to Dittrich, politicians urgently need to take countermeasures.<\/p>\n The sales crisis for \u202fconstruction and sawn timber \u202fis also reflected in the so-called \u201cproducer prices for commercial products\u201d. These reflect the selling prices of the industry . According to Destatis, wood was already 28.9% cheaper in July 2023 than in July 2022, and wooden packaging was sold 27.4% cheaper.<\/p>\n Timber prices under massive pressure<\/strong><\/p>\n The severe sales crisis for lumber is having a noticeable impact on wood prices for forest owners. Some sawmills continue to offer only low mixed prices. The price situation on the lumber market is still very confusing and varies greatly from region to region.\u202fExisting contracts were occasionally terminated by the buyer. There are hardly any new contracts and only at greatly reduced prices for short periods of time. Prices for spruce wood in 2b+ quality now range from 80 to 85 euros per cubic meter and for beetle wood from 60 to 65 euros per cubic meter.<\/p>\n With the fall in the price of spruce, sales of pine have often come to an almost complete standstill. For pine wood of 2b+ quality, the few price reports are between 60 and 70 EUR per cubic meter.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The slump in sales of almost all wood products has been overwhelming the entire German timber industry for several months. Sawmills continue to have massive difficulties selling lumber. As a consequence, the production volume in the sawmills had to be … Continue reading