Quarterly results from European forest industry giants Stora Enso, Mets\u00e4 Group and UPM showed that lumber and wood products markets remained under pressure in the first quarter of 2026, although curtailments across Europe started tightening supply and supporting prices after the severe downturn seen in late 2025.<\/p>\n
Stora Enso reported Q1 sales of EUR 2.36 billion and adjusted EBIT of EUR 159 million, down from EUR 174 million a year earlier. The company said construction-related demand in Europe remained weak, particularly in residential building.<\/p>\n
CEO Hans Sohlstr\u00f6m said the market environment was still \u201cvolatile and uncertain,\u201d although some segments had begun stabilising.<\/p>\n
Deliveries in Stora Enso\u2019s Wood Products division improved quarter-over-quarter as customers slowly returned to the market after extremely weak purchasing activity in late 2025. However, the company continued facing pressure from high Nordic sawlog costs and weak construction demand in Central Europe.<\/p>\n
Mets\u00e4 Group reported a comparable operating loss of EUR 4 million for Q1 2026, compared with a comparable profit of EUR 81 million a year earlier. Sales declined to EUR 1.36 billion from EUR 1.64 billion.<\/p>\n
President and CEO Ilkka H\u00e4m\u00e4l\u00e4 said demand for sawn timber and plywood remained weak across Europe due to low construction activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cDemand for sawn timber and plywood remained low due to weak construction activity,\u201d H\u00e4m\u00e4l\u00e4 said.<\/p>\n
Mets\u00e4 Fibre said sawn timber demand improved slightly compared with the extremely weak market conditions seen in late 2025, while spruce lumber prices in Europe began recovering after Nordic and Central European sawmills reduced production.<\/p>\n
UPM reported comparatively stronger results thanks to its diversified business structure and energy operations. Comparable EBIT reached EUR 274 million on sales of EUR 2.5 billion.<\/p>\n
CEO Massimo Reynaudo said geopolitical uncertainty continued affecting markets, but fibre operations improved during the quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe achieved a good start to the year, even if geopolitical events continued to introduce new uncertainties,\u201d Reynaudo said.<\/p>\n
UPM said pulp prices increased slightly during the quarter, while wood costs in Finland started easing after remaining exceptionally high in recent years. The company\u2019s plywood business reported stable industrial demand, particularly in LNG transport and specialised applications, although European construction demand remained weak.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98756,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n