Global Trends Review

U.S. home construction starts plunged in April by the most in records back to 1959, as the nationwide lockdown to control the spread of the coronavirus hammered the housing market and broader economy. Residential starts plummeted 30.2% to...

UPM Plywood is planning to permanently close its Jyväskylä plywood mill, which is producing spruce and birch plywood. The company starts a consultation process concerning the entire personnel working at the mill. The Profitability of Jyväskylä plywood mill...

Russian Timber Journal 05-2020: comparing the 2008-2009 crisis with the current decline of forest products exports during the pandemic; in the Russian Far East was opened the first OSB production; the Russian government has granted a six-month deferment to...

The bark beetle infestation in Austria’s forests started particularly early due to the mild winter of 2020 and will again cause great economic damage for forest owners, the Austrian Chamber of Agriculture (LKO) informs. The situation is worse...

Russian Timber Journal 04-2020: in mid-May 2020, WhatWood agency conducted an express survey of the largest timber industry players about how the coronavirus epidemic affected their production activities and the sales situation; the Government of the Russian Federation approved...

According to China Customs, in 1Q 2020, China’s plywood exports were 1.85 million m³ valued at US$787.6 million, a drop of 85% and 82% respectively over the same period in 2019. The main markets for plywood exports in...

On 23 March, the Commission issued new practical advice on how to implement its Guidelines for border management, in order to keep freight moving across the EU during the current pandemic. To ensure that EU-wide supply chains continue...

The coronavirus pandemic may cause the collapse of Polish furniture manufacturers, which face many production curtailments. The five main Polish furniture manufacturers estimate that the economic risk would be equivalent to two points of GDP, and asks that...

According to the figures provided by the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS), the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) in the manufacturing sector of China rose from a record low of 35.7 in February to 52 in March....

To cope with COVID-19, the country is going to allocate up to 20% of its GDP. With the quarantine, some furniture companies (Molteni, Poliform) cut back production. Natuzzi has also slowed down its operations and is looking for...

Corona virus disrupts supply chain Japanese house builders are having shortage of housing materials since many are supplied from China and the supply is disrupted by wide spread of corona virus disease in China, reports ITTO. Since workers...

Russian Timber Journal 03-2020: coronavirus infection was recorded in many countries of the world, the development of the situation showed that COVID-19 has a direct impact on all areas of the economy, including the timber industry — forest...