French sawmills are entering 2026 without fatalism despite two difficult years for the wood sector. While construction activity remains weak across Europe, producers are describing the current period as a pause rather than a structural collapse, with many preparing for a rebound once demand improves.<\/p>\n
Since 2024, the sector has faced a severe slowdown linked to the housing crisis. France recorded only 289,000 housing starts in 2025, far below the 490,000 reached in 2006, although still above the historic low of around 250,000 homes recorded in 1993. Renovation activity also declined by 1.1% in volume during 2025.<\/p>\n
According to Nicolas Douzain-Didier, General Delegate of the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Nationale du Bois, the downturn reflects several overlapping European factors rather than purely domestic weakness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are facing three phenomena at the same time that explain the current pause in the European wood market,\u201d he said. \u201cThe first is the post-bark beetle period, which is temporarily reducing the available European softwood resource. This is particularly visible in Germany and the Baltic States. The second is the simultaneous decline in construction activity across the main European Union countries. The third, less visible phenomenon is \u2018wood without harvesting\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reference to \u201cwood without harvesting\u201d highlights a growing imbalance between forest resources and economically viable harvesting capacity, particularly in mountainous or difficult-to-access regions.<\/p>\n
Despite the difficult environment, several French producers say domestic mills benefited in 2025 from reduced competitive pressure from Scandinavian and German suppliers.<\/p>\n
Marc Siat, from Groupe SIAT, said the French wood industry managed to maintain activity levels even as the broader construction sector weakened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the construction industry suffered significantly, the wood industry worked relatively well overall in 2025,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause of the high cost of logs and low selling prices in France, Scandinavian and German producers are less present on our domestic market. This provides activity for French sawmills, but it also reduces margins because the French industry has not been able to increase selling prices at the same pace as international markets.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that log prices continue to rise sharply.<\/p>\n
The same pressure is being felt across the softwood sector. Alexandre Teyssier, from Groupe Moulinvest, said procurement costs remain particularly high for fir logs, especially large-diameter material.<\/p>\n
\u201cPurchase prices are particularly high on fir, especially for large logs, which are very much in demand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The imbalance between rising raw material costs and stagnant lumber prices remains one of the main concerns for French sawmills. However, the sector still sees longer-term opportunities in timber construction, industrialized wood building systems, prefabrication and engineered wood products.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98822,"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-98821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n