Being asked to write a few words for this column in the current market is like accepting a poisoned chalice – anything you put down in writing is either likely to look ridiculously out of touch with the real world or so negative that it doesn’t make it onto the page, for fear of upsetting the readers!
We all know that it is a dreadfully bleak economic outlook, for the country as a whole and our sector in particular. If your company is a Timber Trade Federation member (and so it should be!), you’ll have access to very important data; depressing but interesting! To single out one piece of information, softwood volume imports for January 2009 against January 2008 show a 45% decline – how much more shocking can statistics get?
While there will be some traders out there who manage to defy gravity, for the vast majority of us it is extremely hard to be positive, but that is precisely what we need to be. We need to believe that we do a good job and are providing a good product and service.
There are real signs of increased house sales; house prices are not reducing at anything like the previous trend; mortgage availability is increasing. The massive reductions in the base rate are only just coming through into higher levels of disposable income.
The pressure to improve building performance on thermal, sound and, above all, environmental measures puts our products well ahead of the competition – just imagine how hard those competing products are finding life right now?
Take some comfort from knowing that you are not alone in your concern about what the future will bring and that most of us who are involved in trading feel the same sense of personal doubt – is it me who is not able to ‘cut the mustard’? In my own case that may be true, but for us as a sector, we need to remember that we haven’t all suddenly changed; the market has and we’re now all acting accordingly.
Good luck, happy hunting and stay positive – it can only help!
