Global Trends Review

– A new £100 million (€140.33 million) biomass terminal planned for the Port of Liverpool will handle up to three million tonnes of wood pellets per year as part of the decarbonisation of Drax power station. – Setra...

– Gradual EU economy revival combined with the global economy upward trend will encourage the growth of demand for the Finnish forest sector products, such a conclusion was reached by the Natural Resources Institute of Finland (Luke). Luke...

– Södra raised the price for standard pine and spruce sawlogs by SEK 20 (EUR 2,16) per cubic metre since 25 May, but a temporary contracting premium of SEK 20 will be introduced to stimulate early contracting. –...

– Total EU imports of Russian birch plywood increased 10% to 785,000 m3 in 2014, reports Fordaq. The market is widely distributed across the continent. In 2014, there was a particularly sharp increase in imports to Germany, which...

– Japan housing starts recovered unexpectedly in March, ITTO reported, +0.7% in March from last year, confounding expectations for a fall of 1.9 percent. – Finnish sawmilling company Keitele Wood Products Oy is completing a new 70,000 m3...

– The price of wood pellets in Germany has fallen sharply in April compared to the previous month. – At the end of the heating season, the price of ENplusA1 wood pellets in Austria has also declined considerably...

– Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovha Rada) has imposed a 10-year ban on unprocessed log exports. – Despite the decline in domestic consumption by 11%, Sweden’s wood pellet production increased by 4% in 2014, mainly due to increased exports. –...

– American woodworking equipment producer USNR announced that it has acquired Söderhamn Eriksson (Sweden). – Raute Corporation will supply plywood equipment for the veneer mill of Latvijas Finieris Group in Kohila, Estonia. – Stora Enso plans to rationalise...

– Lumber prices declined for much of the fall of 2014 in both Sweden and Finland, because the export market weakened in the second half of the year, WRQ reports – According to ITTO, January housing starts in...

– Germany’s woodworking machinery industry is expecting solid sales growth in 2015, but downturn is expected in Russia. – Raute’s net sales amounted to €94.0 million in 2014, up 13%. – John Deere’s global forestry sales in 2015...

– On the background of oil prices being misbalanced, Canadian forestry is flourishing. – In 2014, British Columbia’s softwood lumber exports to China have fallen for the first time in nearly a decade. – The forest business in...

Improved lumber orders from Chinese buyers allowed Canada’s Western Forest Products to reopen its sawmill in January. China, Indonesia, Brazil, Portugal and Australia face allegations over cheap uncoated paper imports to the US, EUWID Paper reported. In 2014,...