Forest Industries Intelligence

The general mood of hardwood traders attending the Interzum 2023 show in Cologne 9 to 12 May was that the overall market, having slowed dramatically in the second half of 2022 has remained very subdued this year. There were many references to economic uncertainty owing to the Ukraine war, extremely high energy costs, rising inflation leading in turn to higher interest rates, and consumers becoming increasingly cautious after two years of high spending immediately after lockdowns. The boom in home improvement that started in the pandemic and helped drive hardwood sales in Europe, and which was encouraged by government stimulus measures, is now well and truly over.

Continue reading “Subdued Mood Amongst Hardwood Traders At Interzum. ITTO European Market Report 15th May 2023”

After several years of disruption during and in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, this year the Milan Salone del Mobile furniture fair returned to its traditional April slot for the first time since 2019. Although visitor numbers were still down on pre-pandemic figures of around 400,000 in 2018 and 2019, at 307,418 they were 15% more than in 2022.

Continue reading “Milan furniture fair takes sustainability focus to another level. ITTO European Market Report 30th April 2023”

In 2021, logistical problems on the supply side in tropical countries during the COVID pandemic seemed to accelerate the long term trend away from tropical timber products in the EU27 market. The share of tropical products in the total value of EU27 imports of wood and wood furniture fell from 20% in 2020 to just 17% in 2021. However, last year the situation was transformed as tropical products recorded the largest increase in share for at least the last 15 years, rebounding to 21% of the total value of EU27 imports of wood and wood furniture (Chart 1).

Continue reading “Largest Increase In Tropical Share Of EU27 Wood Market For At Least 15 Years. ITTO European Market Report 30th March 2023”

The UK imported USD731 million of tropical wood furniture products in 2022, 8% less than the previous year. In quantity terms, wood furniture imports were 153,000 tonnes last year, 9% less than in 2021. After the market turmoil in the previous two years during the COVID pandemic, UK tropical wood furniture imports in 2022 returned to a level slightly below the annual average between 2015 and 2019 (USD771 million). In a sign of deteriorating consumption, UK wood furniture import value in the last quarter of 2022 was 16% lower than the previous quarter and 15% down on the same period in 2021. In 2022, UK import value of wood furniture decreased 2% from Vietnam to USD365 million, 7% from Malaysia to USD130 million, 3% from India to USD80 million, 15% from Indonesia to USD69 million, 35% from Singapore to USD54 million. However imports increased 19% from Thailand to USD22 million (Chart 1).

Continue reading “UK imports of tropical wood furniture back to pre-Covid level. ITTO European Market Report 28th February 2023”

The import value of tropical wood and wood furniture into the UK in the first ten months of last year was USD1.24B, 13% more than the same period last year. Following the strongest start to the year in terms of UK import value since before the 2008 financial crises, imports fell sharply between July and October (Chart 1).

Continue reading “Continuing Slowdown In UK Tropical Wood Product Imports. ITTO Market Report 15th January 2023”