The British love affair with oak continues, with demand reported to be buoyant from all sectors – construction, joinery, flooring and furniture.
This is against a background of a generally “quiet” UK hardwood market, according to many traders: reasons range from the election, to a drop in consumer spending. And now the industry is into the traditionally quiet summer holidays.
Oak is coming from all over – including the US, France, Germany, Croatia, Bosnia and even China, though the wood being produced by the latter is largely imported from North America.
Figures released recently by the US Bureau of Census show UK imports of American white oak increased from 8,678m3 to 9,843m3 during the first quarter of 2005. That represents a growth from US$6.7m a year ago to US$8.1m.
US white oak shipments in 2004 were worth US$30.3m, up 20% on 2003, followed by ash at US$8.8m and then cherry, maple and tulipwood. Imports of red oak grew by 78% during the period, albeit from a relatively small base.
It is tempting to say oak’s popularity represents a trend towards the lighter coloured species, but as Frank Boddy, managing director of John Boddy Timber, says, this does not explain why beech and ash are not setting the world alight.
He said: “A lot of it is to do with finish. Oak furniture has always been stained, which I think spoils it at times. Now, natural oak is required.”
Mr Boddy believes the trend issue of light/dark timbers is “a bit blurred”, because some darker species are also proving very popular, such as walnut and wenge.
Chris Powell, managing director of CP Timber, said: “Two inch white oak is the hottest item out there. Oak is by far the most popular timber in the market place. The architects may like to talk up the other species but the reality is oak is selling well.”
Mr Powell said European oak is a big seller and pointed to a possible shift away from the American product due to the currency situation. He added white oak is outselling any other US species by four-to-one at the moment.
Michael Buckley, of World Hardwoods, described American white and French oak as popular. “France is right now enjoying a pretty good market, but it’s having trouble with its beech.”
The European Federation of the Parquet Industry says 50.5% of all European hardwood flooring production is oak, while beech stands at 13%.
China is processing large quantities of US oak and exporting some of it to the UK as flooring, furniture and joinery. “China is contributing to the overall demand in oak, but it is very much back in fashion. It had a rough patch towards the end of the 1990s,” Mr Buckley added.
Red oak trends
The trend has not extended to red oak which, for some reason, possibly because of the shade or perceived lack of character grain, has not caught on in Britain.
But US prices of the product are reportedly coming down and the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) is pushing the product to UK specifiers. AHEC reported a good response to the species from architects at the 100% Detail exhibition last September.
Peter Thorogood, managing director of Thorogood Timber plc, said European oak is proving popular for external joinery but people tend to favour the clean lines and low defects of the American species.
Some traders are reporting late shipments of US hardwoods, with delivery of thick white oak an issue. AHEC has confirmed that some shortages of key white oak sizes do exist and admits that character grade European oak has seen a resurgence.
Customers are becoming more demanding, with merchants’ customers wanting very small amounts of high quality wood, with a lot of heartwood and wide sections.
While many of the traditional sectors for hardwoods have shrunk – mass furniture manufacture moving to eastern Europe and the Far East, and some fears that the door industry could follow suit, flooring has proved a growth product.
James Latham plc invested £300,000 in a specialist division to develop its hardwood floors business, and it met its target for 50% growth in its first year of operation.
London-based Natural Flooring Company (NFC) is also expanding. It has installed 1,000m3 of kilning capacity, introduced new machinery and will open its first branch in Brighton in October.
The company has launched an antiqued oak floor to capitalise on the vogue for an “old look”. Managing director Peter Keane said reclaimed timbers have become more expensive, so the company has developed an ageing process to give a distressed effect, which takes off the harsh edges, giving a “worn character and darkened matt finish”.
NFC’s biggest seller is 125x150mm prime European oak and one notable job, an installation at the Natural History Museum, required 700m2.
The company has also recently diversified into worktops. These include walnut, oak, cherry, maple and Australian jarrah. And the sale of hardwood mouldings, including skirtings and architraves, has also benefited from the flooring boom.
There is broad consensus that beech has been out of favour, probably partially through fashion but also due to an inability to sell lower grades to the contracting UK furniture industry. Sawmillers also report that European beech was hit when the Chinese moved away from the species.
Beech prices have fallen 15% since 2001, according to the UN Economic Commission for Europe‘s timber committee. However, suppliers say that a core beech market remains. In fact, NHG Timber says it is selling more this year than in 2004. John Boddy Timber also reports that steamed beech is doing well.
CP Timber suggests better times ahead for the species because it is a blond wood and darker timbers tend to go out of fashion more quickly. The company is finding an outlet for beech in the worktop market, as an alternative for kitchen designers fed-up with granite.
Walnut is enjoying good times, especially for hotel, bar and restaurant fit outs. Blumsom’s Tim Gunning reports a lot of interest for joinery and furniture while Arnold Laver Timber World also rates walnut and wenge as fashionable.
The Natural Wood Flooring Co also describes walnut as “the flavour of the month”, with one architect specifying it for the Hotel Du Vin chain of hotel/restaurants. With its dark chocolate colour and beige figuring, wenge is also being specified for prestige building jobs.
Sapele seems to be the most popular African species, especially for conservatories, doors, windows and joinery. Demand is also reportedly steady for idigbo and iroko. Thorogoods says the latter has been its worktop best seller for the past three or four years.
South American species massaranduba and garapa are being used for decking, the latter species a relative newcomer to the UK market. The yellow brown timber is seen as a cheaper alternative to more established woods.
Massaranduba has also been used recently by Smee Timber for a £100,000 apartment cladding project in Manchester.
Indonesian balau is another popular decking timber but availability has reportedly been an issue recently.
Certification
The subject of certification continues to be a major issue for the hardwood industry. A joint timber industry and government report published earlier this year said certified tropical hardwood products can carry a 30% price premium, depending on species. It said US hardwood products could be 8-15% more expensive. The report also highlighted poorly developed distribution channels and restricted availability.
But Smee Timber director John McCoy said European oak certified to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is easy to get hold of – from France, Germany and eastern Europe. It is being demanded by customers dealing with large government jobs.
Cardiff-based Ecotimber Ltd has seen its sales of FSC certified hardwood grow by over 100% to more than £1m in the past financial year.
Blumsoms reports growing demand for FSC timber, with certified maple being used for door lippings and glazing beads. NHG Timber concurs that UK certified hardwood sales are increasing but says most of its customers’ clients do not want to pay extra for it.
John Boddy Timber is bringing in several FSC-certified timbers from Central America, including mahogany, Central American cedar, danto, black cabbage bark and Santa Maria. Frank Boddy said more customers needed chain of custody certification.
The London bombings have been mentioned by some traders, with fears it could impact business generally, with delays on some projects.
But the capital’s victory in hosting the 2012 Olympics is good news, with business possibilities starting later this year. Southern hardwood traders are arguably better placed to capitalise on the work expected to be generated by the massive construction project.
