Category: 2015

The EU imported 302828m3 of tropical plywood in the first nine months of 2015, 2% less than the same period in 2014. EU demand for tropical plywood in 2015 has been negatively affected by the weakness of the euro relative to the US dollar, slow growth in the building sector in most European countries, as well as lower prices and short lead times for competing temperate plywood products from Europe, Russia and China.

According to an examination by the European Court of Auditors (the Court) published in October, the EU FLEGT action plan to tackle the problem of illegal logging is not sufficiently well managed, designed and targeted.

EU imports of tropical timber products increased sharply between September 2014 and April 2015 but slowed again in the four months to end September 2015 (Chart 1). Nevertheless, the value of EU imports of tropical timber across all product groups in the first 9 months of 2015 was, at €1.703 billion, 16% greater than the same period the previous year. So far EU imports of tropical timber in 2015 have been close to levels last seen in 2012.

Europe’s economy has regained a certain level of stability since the height of the financial crisis, but growth remains slow and there is no sign of acceleration. The EU28 group of nations recorded only 0.4% GDP growth in the second quarter of 2015, down from 0.5% in the first quarter and falling short of most forecasts.

Unlike the ATIBT Forum in 2014 which was wide ranging and covered tropical timber trade trends globally, this year’s meeting focused more on linkages between African producers and European buyers. Around 150 participants attended the meeting in Milan on 14-15 October drawn mainly from African governments and trade associations, European-owned tropical timber operators in Africa, and European importing companies, trade associations and other policy makers.

The International Hardwood Conference (IHC) held in Copenhagen from 16-18 September identified access to raw materials, changes in global trade flow patterns and growing purchasing competition with buyers from other parts of the world as well as innovation in non-wood materials as key challenges currently facing the European hardwood industry.

The rising trend in EU tropical wood product imports that began in September 2014 continued into the second quarter of 2015. EU imports of tropical wood products in May 2015 hit €186 million, the highest monthly figure since June 2012 (Chart 1). Overall in the first 6 months of 2015, the EU imported €1.07 billion of tropical wood products, an increase of 19% compared to the same period the previous year.

EU imports of hardwood plywood were 103.1 million m3 in the first five months of this year, 3.3% more than in the same period of 2014. However, import growth has slowed in 2015 compared to the 11.1% increase registered for 2014 as a whole, (Chart 1).

The Spanish timber trade suffered dramatically from the economic crisis and especially from the contraction by 70-80% in the building sector. However the Spanish economy and the local wood industry are slowly beginning to recover. The industry has also changed dramatically since the crisis and is now exploiting new market segments. This is according to an interview with Alberto Romero, General Secretary of the Spanish importers’ federation AEIM, for the European Timber Trade Federation (ETTF) newsletter.

The Euroconstruct research agency reports that the European construction industry is growing slowly after several years of declining or low activity. In its latest half-yearly report issued in June, Euroconstruct revised it forecasts for 2015 and 2016 upwards and also revealed positive expectations for 2017.