Lower house starts in England in the first quarter of the year – down 7% on Q1, 2018 – are one reason for the current uncertainty in the market. Private sector housing was down 9% on the corresponding 2018 quarter, although public new housing starts bucked the trend by rising by 3% in Q1 this year, against Q1, 2018.
Against this mixed construction sector backdrop, figures from the latest TTF Timber Statistics – Industry Facts & Figures, July 2019 show that solid wood imports to the UK during January-April were 16% higher than the same four-month period last year. Imports of panel products were 3% higher. Total imports of wood products were 11% higher in the corresponding periods – however, April marked the first dip in seven months, coming in at just over 1.3% lower.
Softwood imports were up 15.8% in the January-April year-on-year comparison, up from 1,988,000m3 to 2,303,000m3. Both Germany and Latvia boosted their softwood shipments to the UK, by 45% and 37% respectively. In Latvia’s case this elevated its market share of UK softwood imports to 18%.
In contrast, Sweden’s market share has fallen from 46% to 41% in the January-April year-to-date comparison, while Finland’s has dropped from 14% to 13%.
Hardwood imports over the four-month period are up even more – up 20.9% during January-April this year against last. The cumulative volume to April this year was 185,000m3, up from 153,000m3.
The growth so far this year is down to substantial increases in shipments from Europe. Estonia’s market share has risen from 12% to 14% in the January-April comparison periods, while France’s has risen from 9% to 11% and Latvia’s from 6% to 8%.
The US is still out in front and shipped similar volumes in January-April this year and last year, however, thanks to gains by European countries, its market share has slipped from 20% in January-April 2018 to 17% in the same period this year.
Total plywood imports into the UK were down by 1.2% in the January-April year-onyear comparison. Cumulative volumes to April were 606,000m3, down from 613,000m3 in the first four months of 2018.
Hardwood plywood imports were up by 2.5%, with cumulative volumes up from 331,000m3 in January-April 2018 to 339,000m3 this year. Imports from Indonesia and Malaysia have fallen quite dramatically, resulting in a loss of market share for both – 7% to 5% and 8% to 5% respectively.
China, despite a 1% growth in volume saw its market share fall from 55% to 54%. Russia and Finland saw their market share rise from 7% to 8% and 6% to 7% respectively.
Softwood plywood imports were down 5.4% in the January-April comparison periods, with cumulative volumes to April down from 283,000m3 in 2018 to 268,000m3 this year. This is due to the large volumes from South Africa recorded early in 2018 not being repeated this year and to lower volumes from Brazil.
Brazil remains the market leader, with a 64% share while China has seen its market share rise from 11% to 13% and Finland’s has risen from 8% to 12%.
Chipboard imports in the first four months of this year were up 7.5% on the same period of 2018 with the cumulative volume to April reaching 304,000m3 this year.
OSB imports were up 12.2%, with cumulative volumes to April of 97,000m3. MDF imports were up 2.3%, with cumulative volumes to April of 249,000m3.
