Month: January 2010

Severe winter weather across much of north western Europe made for a slow start to plywood business this year, keeping both traders and builders away from work.  Although weather conditions improved later in January, few are expecting a significant upturn in business at least during the first half of the year. Even with clear indications that CIF prices for tropical hardwood plywood are now rising, there are reports of UK distributors off-loading stock at below replacement cost in the face of very slow consumption. This suggests that prospects for any significant increase in forward orders are limited, at least in the short term.

Analysis of the most recent Eurostat trade data indicates that European imports of hardwood-faced plywood from developing countries rebounded in the third quarter of 2009, after suffering four consecutive quarters of decline between April 2008 and June 2009.