Month: March 2014

The EU imported tropical wood products with a total value of €1.91 billion in 2013, 12.6% less than the previous year[1]. Between 2012 and 2013, import value declined across all product groups including sawn wood (down 13.2% to €633 million), joinery products (down 8.8% to €208 million), plywood (down 5.6% to €206 million), mouldings and decking (down 26.4% to €177 million), veneers (down 4.9% to €168 million), flooring  (down 21.7% to €88 million), logs (down 15.6% to €83 million) and other products (down 8.8% to €347 million). EU tropical wood import value last year was around 50% of the peak achieved in 2007 and is the lowest recorded in recent years (Chart 1).

According to a preliminary estimate by Eurostat, GDP rose by 0.1% in the EU28 and fell by 0.4% in the euro area during 2013. Quarterly data shows that the European economy has been recovering slowly since the second quarter of 2013 (Chart A). Of the large EU countries, the UK was the best performing economy in 2013. The UK’s services and manufacturing sectors were the drivers of 0.7% growth in the fourth quarter, taking the annual growth rate to 1.9%, the strongest since 2007. In the euro-zone, 0.4% and 0.3% GDP growth respectively in Germany and France in 2013 helped offset further declines in Italy and Spain. However, all these economies were recovering slowly in the second half of 2013.