EU sawmill market perspective

摘要

"European softwood sawmill production is increasing, but is there similar growth in market demand?" was the big question arising from a meeting of EU sawmillers in Brussels in May.In recent years, UK sawmills have been out of step with their European counterparts, enjoying increased production and sales. The UK is now the sixth biggest producer of softwood sawn timber in the EU and the third largest consumer.In recent years, European sawmillers have suffered from reduced, and expensive log supply and/or weak demand. While log availability has increased in parts of central Europe and Scandinavia in recent months, enabling some mills to increase volumes, the EU market's consumption of sawn softwood timber declined by 0.1 % in 2013 and is only forecast to grow by a mirrored 0.1 % in 2014.