Global timber market review #14-15-2016

– The global engineered wood products market will be driven by demand for cost-effective and environmentally friendly wood products all through 2020 and will grow at a CAGR of more than 26%, as said in the report prepared by Technavio research company. The market in the report is categorized into four product segments, including I-beams, glulam, laminated veneer lumber (LVL), and others. I-beam will dominate the engineered wood products market and is expected to occupy more than 41% of the total market share by 2020.

– Swedish sawmiller Setra says that UK’s decision to leave the European Union creates “unease and uncertainty” in the short-term and effects of this decision are yet difficult to assess. Setra has 12 mills in Sweden and counts the UK as one of its largest customers for construction lumber.

– UK’s Construction Products Association economist Noble Francis said the short-term effects of the Brexit would be a delay in projects, while a hindering of investment could be the impact over the medium-term, TTJ reported. Brexit, he said, might not happen until 2019 and despite housebuilder shares being hit on the stock market he did not think there would be a collapse in the housing market.

– Metsa Wood increased its profits in the first half of 2016 and predicts the market balance and sales prices of sawn timber “to improve as a whole” going forward. The deliveries of spruce and pine sawn timber to North Africa increased markedly yoy, and the deliveries of spruce sawn timber to Asia, and China in particular, were at a materially higher level than in the previous year. Metsa Wood said the oversupply in pine sawn timber was gradually balancing out.

– New Zealand wood processing leaders held a meeting with senior government officials and political leaders to discuss the acute log supply shortage to local mills in Northland.

– At the annual general meeting of the European Panel Federation held in Venice, figures have been presented from the recently published annual report. Although the panel industry is guardedly optimistic about the future, predicting stable to good outlooks in all markets, it is greatly troubled by the increasingly critical status of wood availability, as measured by its own research. The wood availability map of Europe according to the federation research is published in the Russian Timber Journal #14-15.

– ITTO reported that the first phase of the national timber quarantine treatment zone in Yancheng City, Jiangsu province (China) has come into operation. The facility has an annual handling capacity of 3 million m3 of timber.

– The Forestry Agency of Japan has held the meeting to exchange forecasts on the demand for wood products for 2016. The outlook shows increase over last year on all the products for both domestic and imported items.

More detailed review of global market trends of roundwood, lumber, wood panels and pellets as well as news of the Russian timber industry; exclusive articles and interviews; over 25 pages of price charts are available in our digital Russian Timber Journal.