Global timber market review #9-2015

– 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 glulam factory next to its Lappi Timber Oy sawmill.

– The Multilayer Modular Flooring Association (MMFA) reported sales growth in Europe of multi-layer flooring in the first quarter of 2015. In particular, sales of MMFA class 1 products increased by about 20 percent in January-March this year.

– Swedish wood products company Setra reported falling sales and operating profit in the first quarter.

– Södra is to apply for a new permit for expanded production at its sawmill in Mönsterås from current 450 to 800 thousand m3.

– Rörvik Timber plans to increase its raw material purchases in Sweden and through imports from Norway and Russia to expand sawn timber production volume.

– According to Metsä’s quarter report, sales in the wood products industry are expected to grow in the second quarter, compared to both the previous quarter and the corresponding period in the previous year.

– At this year’s Argus European Biomass Trading conference in mid-April, the latest figures on the development of the international pellet market were announced. Therefore in 2014, 27 million tonnes of pellets were produced worldwide. Of this, around 20 million tonnes were used in Europe as a renewable fuel. About half of the pellets produced were consumed by power plants or heating plants, while the other half was used in pellet stoves or pellet boilers.

– Northeast Wood Products, LLC announced that the first phase of installation and retrofit of its third factory in the Jasper Industrial Park, located in Jasper, Tennessee, USA is underway. Once operational in November 2015, the plant will produce up to 125,000 tons of premium wood pellets.

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.