March 2020 - Forest Industries Intelligence

31 March, 202023 April, 2020

Covid-19 Puts Europe into Lockdown and Rewrites Economic Forecasts – ITTO European Market Report 31st March 2020

Economic forecasts issued only a few weeks ago in Europe, which projected continuing slow increase this year in GDP and business activity in sectors critical to the timber industry, such as construction and furniture, will need to be completely revised in the face of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Second Consecutive Year of Growth in EU Tropical Timber Imports – ITTO European Market Report 15th March 2020

Despite a downturn in the last six months of 2019, EU imports of tropical wood products last year were greater than in 2018. In 2019, the EU28 imported 2.13 million tonnes of tropical wood products (including all those in HS Chapter 44 except fuelwood, wood waste and chips) with a total value of €2.32 billion, respectively 1.5% and 3.2% greater than the previous year. This was the second consecutive year of import growth after a dip in 2017.