Germany's sawmill industry expects another difficult year after lumber production fell to its lowest level in a decade, with companies facing weak construction demand, high production costs and mounting pressure on export markets.<\/p>\n
The German Sawmill and Timber Industry Association (DeSH) said the recovery many producers expected this spring has failed to materialise, leaving mills with lower order books and forcing some companies to reduce shifts, introduce short-time work or scale back production.<\/p>\n
According to the association, output of construction timber could decline by a further 9\u201310%<\/strong> this year after already dropping sharply in 2025.<\/p>\n While log availability has improved compared with last summer as more forest owners increased harvesting, the additional supply has done little to improve operating conditions for sawmills because demand remains subdued.<\/p>\n Germany's construction sector continues to be the industry's biggest concern. Residential building activity remains historically weak, with housing completions last year falling to their lowest level since 2012. Although building permits have started to recover modestly, the increase has yet to translate into stronger timber consumption.<\/p>\n Export markets are also becoming more challenging. DeSH said geopolitical tensions and a growing number of trade barriers are making international business increasingly difficult, while consolidation among European competitors is intensifying competitive pressure.<\/p>\n At the same time, German manufacturers continue to face elevated energy and raw material costs, limiting their ability to compete with producers in other countries.<\/p>\n The German sawmill and timber industry comprises more than 2,000 companies<\/strong>, employs around 30,000 people<\/strong> and generates approximately \u20ac14 billion<\/strong> in annual turnover. Germany remains Europe's largest producer of structural timber and ranks among the world's leading suppliers.<\/p>\n Given the deteriorating market conditions, DeSH is calling on policymakers to convene a joint industry summit aimed at improving the framework for wood processing businesses. The association argues that without measures to stimulate construction activity, strengthen industrial competitiveness and secure reliable access to domestic timber resources, Germany risks a further loss of production capacity and investment in one of its key manufacturing industries.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99207,"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-99206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n