Global Trends Review

China’s domestic timber production rose 2% to 83.67 million m3 in 2013, ITTO reported. Timber imports (logs and sawnwood) rose 18% to 79.16 million m3 log equivalent, and the value of China’s timber imports grew 26% to $16.1...

The building permits development in 2013 remained negative and is expected to decline in 2014 in France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands, though the latter three showed some positive developments, says Fordaq quoting the latest Arch-Vision report on...

Scandinavian sawn timber producers report a good start of 2014 due to improved market demand and better prices on major markets, TTJ said. Moelven’s pre-tax profits in Q1 2014 were NOK 32.9 million (€4 million), compared to NOK...

According to the latest Eurostat figures quoted by Fordaq, in 2013 not only the sawmills from Europe made their presence obvious on the Chinese market, but also EU’s softwood log exporters more than tripled their deliveries compared to...

In January 2014 compared with January 2013, seasonally adjusted production in the construction sector increased by 8.8% in the euro area (EU18) and by 7.3% in the EU28, as Fordaq said quoting Eurostat. The highest increases in production...

Idaho Forest Group (US) and Johann Offner Group (Austria) have announced plans to introduce CLT technology to the United States together, Holzkurier reported. The new company will primarily market a product known in German-speaking countries as KLH, a...

Chinese timber enterprises are rapidly increasing foreign investments. Around $1.3 billion has been already allocated in some 20 countries, mainly for logging and primary processing, but with growing interest in wood product manufacturing, as ITTO reported. Recently, both...

Consumption of softwood lumber in Europe is slowly increasing from a very low level, according to Fordaq which quotes study by International Forest Industries (IFI) published at woodnet.se. The sharp decline by 32% in past years was mainly...

Canadian Norbord company is going to expand its Inverness OSB mill in UK in order to meet an anticipated 50% increase in OSB consumption during the next decade, TTJ reported. Earlier the company completed a detailed feasibility study...

At the beginning of the year the average price of wood pellets in Germany has slightly decreased, as the German Energy Wood and Pellet Association (DEPV) reported. January price is €284.93/t, which is 0.2% lower than in December...

After eleven months of 2013, housing starts in Japan were up 10% on last year’s figures, Holzkurier says. This makes 2013 the strongest construction year in Japan ever since 2008. As a preliminary total estimate, 960,000 housing units...

Euroconstruct forecasts a decline of 3% by comparison to the preceding year in European construction output to €1.3 billion, reports EUWID Wood. This estimation made at the end of November reflects a slight adjustment downwards from the estimation...