Tag: Market Report

The European real-wood flooring industry continues to experience moderate growth, benefiting from encouraging economic developments, especially in construction activity. Compared to the same period last year, provisional results for the first half of 2017 point to a continuation of the positive parquet consumption trends observed in 2016 and during the first quarter of 2017.

Previous ITTO reports have highlighted how European furniture manufacturers have been taking larger share of the internal EU market in recent years, gradually squeezing out overseas competitors. This trend has been driven partly by increased price competitiveness at a time when the euro and other European currencies have been weak relative to the US dollar.

Public comments are invited on a draft report by the Independent Market Monitor (IMM), which is a multi-year project implemented by ITTO and financed by the European Union (EU) to support implementation of the FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreements between the EU and timber supplying countries.

The slowdown in EU imports of tropical timber products registered in the first quarter of 2017 continued into the second quarter. Twelve monthly rolling average imports, which peaked at just below €196 million in June 2016, fell to €183 in June 2017. Most of the rise and subsequent slowdown in EU tropical imports was driven by sawn wood. (Chart 1).

During June 2017, two large conferences in Europe addressed policy issues in relation to deforestation and illegal logging. The conferences reaffirmed the EU’s continued political commitment to trade related policy measures in response to concerns about illegal logging and deforestation.

Although overall economic conditions are improving in Europe, growth in key countries and sectors for the tropical hardwood sector is subdued and weakening in some cases.

European consumption of real wood flooring (i.e. excluding laminates) remains flat and the role of tropical timber in this sector is declining. This is apparent from combined analysis of Eurostat trade data and the latest market report by the FEP (European Federation of the Parquet Industry) released on 16 June 2017 at the Federation’s annual general meeting in Budapest, Hungary.

After making gains last year, EU imports of tropical veneer have continued to rise in 2017, hitting 40,000 metric tonnes (MT) in the first quarter, a 15% increase compared to the same period in 2016. As in 2016, most gains were in imports from Gabon, which increased 28% to 21,700 MT in the first quarter of 2017. EU veneer imports also increased from several smaller supplying countries including Congo (+18% to 2,900 MT), DRC (+187% to 1,400 MT) and Equatorial Guinea (+45% to 1,400 MT). However, imports declined from Côte d’Ivoire (-19% to 6,600 MT), Cameroon (-1% to 3,000 MT), and Ghana (-12% to 1,500 MT). (Chart 1).

The slowdown in EU imports of tropical timber products registered in the second half of 2016 continued into the first quarter of 2017. Twelve monthly rolling average imports, which peaked at just below €196 million in June 2016, had slipped to €193 million by March 2017. Most of the rise and subsequent slowdown in EU tropical imports in the 24 months prior to 2017 was driven by sawn wood. Imports of other product groups remained relatively more stable during this period (Chart 1).

Demand for wood furniture in the EU is rising slowly but the signs are not very positive for external suppliers into the region, particularly from the tropics.