September 2020 - Forest Industries Intelligence

30 September, 202013 November, 2020

EU Plywood Trade Cautious, But Covid Recovery Faster Than Expected. ITTO European Market Report 30th September 2020.

EU plywood trade is cautious, but Covid recovery is faster than expected. It’s still too early to say for sure, but it’s variously estimated by European plywood importers and distributors that the Covid-19 pandemic will slice 10-20% off their 2020 bottom line. Trade has since seen a bounce back, varying in degree from country to country, but companies don’t expect it to make up for the sales lost when the health crisis first hit.

UK Market For African Hardwood “Recovering Well” After Lockdown. ITTO European Market Report 15th September 2020

The UK market for sawn African hardwood has been recovering well following easing of COVID-19 lockdown measures from June onwards. However, there are significant problems on the supply side with COVID-19 contributing to reduced harvesting and mill operations and a significant reduction in freight capacity.

This adds to the pre-existing challenges imposed by too much focus on a limited range of commercially valuable hardwood species in the UK, a feature of the market which sits uncomfortably with the UK’s strong preference for FSC certified material.