Raute entered the second half of 2026 with a much thinner order book as plywood and LVL producers continued to hold back investment despite firmer demand in parts of the European hardwood plywood market.<\/p>\n
The Finnish machinery supplier had \u20ac66 million of orders on hand at the end of June, down 43% from \u20ac115 million a year earlier. First-half sales fell 30.5% to \u20ac66.5 million, while second-quarter sales were down 24.6% at \u20ac33 million.<\/p>\n
New orders improved from last year's weak comparison. Raute booked \u20ac18 million in the second quarter, against \u20ac12 million a year earlier, bringing first-half intake to \u20ac35 million from \u20ac27 million. Several expected orders were nevertheless postponed again, leaving little evidence so far of a wider return in mill investment.<\/p>\n
Raute said customers are spending cautiously and concentrating on lowering costs and getting more from existing production lines rather than adding capacity. Producers in Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania are still preparing projects, particularly for automation and production efficiency, but the step from planning to placing an order remains slow.<\/p>\n
There is also a widening difference between plywood markets in Europe. Hardwood plywood demand improved during the quarter, while exports from Nordic and Baltic producers were close to some of their highest levels in recent years. Softwood plywood was considerably weaker and producers continued to adjust output.<\/p>\n
North America offered little support. High interest rates and weak housing affordability continued to weigh on construction, and Raute expects structural panel demand to remain below last year's level.<\/p>\n
Lower machinery sales hit earnings, although margins held up better than turnover. Comparable EBITDA was \u20ac8.2 million in the first half, down from \u20ac13.9 million, with the margin slipping to 12.3% from 14.5%. In the second quarter, comparable EBITDA reached \u20ac4 million, equivalent to a 12% margin.<\/p>\n
Wood Processing remained profitable despite the lower workload, helped by project execution and cost control. Services was weaker as mills also limited spending on their existing operations, while the Analyzers unit recovered from the low profitability recorded in previous quarters.<\/p>\n
The gap between the \u20ac35 million of new orders received during the first half and \u20ac66.5 million of sales shows the pressure on Raute's backlog. Unless project decisions begin to move faster, the company will enter the latter part of the year with considerably less work in hand than it had a year ago.<\/p>\n
For plywood and LVL machinery, the market remains caught between producers looking at future upgrades and their reluctance to commit money today. The improvement in hardwood plywood offers some support, but it has not yet been enough to restart a broader investment cycle.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Raute entered the second half of 2026 with a much thinner order book as plywood and LVL producers continued to hold back investment despite firmer demand in parts of the European hardwood plywood market.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99587,"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-99586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n