The latest Timber Trade Federation TTF statistics reveal that import volumes in the third quarter of 2019 were 11.4% below that of Q3 2018 – the largest quarterly percentage drop in volume since Q3 in 2011.
TTF Timber Statistics – Industry Facts & Figures, December 2019 show that softwood imports were up 2.3% in the January- September 2019/2018 comparison periods, with cumulative volume to September at 5,041,000m3 (2018:4,928,000m3).
By the end of Q3, all the leading suppliers of softwood to the UK had shipped more volume than the equivalent 2018 period. Sweden is still out in front with 41% market share year to date (42% in 2018), although Latvia and Germany showed the most growth with volumes up 9% and 7% respectively.
However, the value of all softwood imports continues to fall and by the end of Q3 was down 2.6% on the corresponding 2018 period. Redwood values were down around 1% while whitewood was down 3% and mixed species fared worse still, down by 4%.
Hardwood imports were up by 11.5%, with the cumulative volume to September 412,000m3 (2018: 370,000m3). Volumes from the US have remained broadly similar, although it has lost some market share – down from 20% in January-September 2018 to 18% in the same period in 2019.
Latvia, France and Italy have boosted their hardwood volumes to the UK by 53%, 19% and 20% respectively.
Total plywood imports were down 6.6% on the January-September comparison periods, with the cumulative volume to September at 1,147,000m3 (2018: 1,228,000m3).
Within that total, hardwood plywood imports were down by 6.9% on the year-todate periods, with cumulative volume to September 723,000m3 (2018: 777,000m3). Most of this decline is accounted for by lower volumes from China, Malaysia and Indonesia, which were down on the 2018 period by 6%, 32% and 14% respectively.
Conversely, Finland has increased its volume to the UK by 25% and Russia’s volume has risen 8%. Russia is now the second biggest exporter of hardwood plywood to the UK, with 9% of the market share (China has 55% and Finland 7%).
Softwood plywood volumes were also down – this time by 6.1%, with cumulative volume to September at 424,000m3 (2018: 451,000m3). Much of this drop can be attributed to lower volumes from China and Chile, down by 11% and 17% respectively. Both Brazil and Finland increased volume by around 1%, while a significant increase in volume from France has seen its market share grow to around 5% by the end of Q3 2019 (2018: 2%).
Chipboard imports were also down – by 12.3%. Cumulative volume to September was 657,000m3 (2018: 749,000m3).
The fall is despite three of the leading countries of supply, Germany, France and Portugal increasing their volumes by between 4-6%. As a result, Germany’s market share year-to-date has increased to 31% (2018: 26%), France’s to 28% (2018: 24%) and Portugal’s to 12% (2018: 11%).
Belgium, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Spain, Poland and Latvia all shipped less chipboard to the UK in the year to September, compared to the same period in 2018.
Imports of OSB were up by 9.3% in the January-September comparison periods, with cumulative volume to September up to 307,000m3 (2018: 281,000m3).
Meanwhile, MDF imports fell by 2.6% in the same comparison periods, with cumulative volume to September at 549,000m3 (2018: 564,000m3).
