Forest Industries Intelligence
Informing the Sustainable Wood Industry Since 1998
At the time of writing, the 63200-tonne dwt Konya was unloading its cargo of plywood and other wood products at the UK port of Tilbury. It was the first timber breakbulk vessel out of Port Klang, Malaysia to London in years and a sign of the times.
Continue reading “Plywood Market Lucrative, but Challenging. ITTO European Market Report 30th July 2021”
The good news from the majority of European hardwood plywood importers interviewed in March 2021 was that they were making money. They reported demand ranging from firm to booming across the market, from the construction and DIY sector to merchants and furniture makers. Moreover, customers were willing to pay a healthy price.
“If you can’t make a good margin in the current climate, you never will,” said one importer.
Another reported their customers ‘accepting the real value’ of plywood and timber generally. “Traditionally most view plywood as a stack it high, sell it cheap commodity, but the market situation is such now that they’re having to pay more like its true worth” they said. “There’s strong demand and less opportunity to play suppliers off against each other. We’re experiencing less negotiating from customers and less bad debt. It’s definitely a seller’s market.”
Continue reading “Plywood Margins Are Good but Supply a Struggle. ITTO European Market Report 31st March 2021”
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.