Supply of African tropical sawn hardwood lumber is now very tight, with lead times for new orders in Europe often extending to over 4 months. This is partly due to long term reduction in capacity as many mills were closed during the financial crises in 2008/2009. However the situation has been made worse by shorter term factors including heavy rains during 2010, on-going efforts to toughen governance and reallocate concessions in some countries, increased diversion of product to the Asian market, and the political situation in the Ivory Coast. This last factor, which has led European shipping companies to avoid calling at Ivory Coast ports, has resulted in particularly short supplies of iroko and samba sawn lumber.
Continue reading “Tight Tropical Hardwood Supply Balanced by Slow European Consumption – ITTO European Market Report 28th February 2011”European Wood Window Market Stabilises in 2010 – ITTO European Market Report 14th February 2011
After a major downturn in 2009, the European window market stabilized at a low level in 2010. Wood’s share of the overall market continues to increase. These trends are expected to continue in 2011 due to continuing refurbishment of windows to improve energy efficiency across the EU. These are the results of a study carried out by the Fenster + Fassade trade association (VFF) with the support of Professor Dirk Hass of the Künzelsauer Institut für Marketing (KIM), which was presented at BAU 2011 in Munich.
Continue reading “European Wood Window Market Stabilises in 2010 – ITTO European Market Report 14th February 2011”