Latest analysis of UK HMRC data by ITTO-Independent Market Monitor, shows the UK tropical trade getting off to a solid start in 2020, with imports of tropical joinery, plywood, sawnwood, mouldings and other categories worth US$105m in January. They dipped to US$75m in February, rose again to US$94m in March, before falling to US$80m in April as the pandemic took hold, then US$51m in May and US$47m in June.

The subsequent bounce back, as business picked up the pace post-lockdown, was nearly as sharp as the previous fall, with imports rising to US$73m in July and US$75m in August.

Talking to TTJ for the latest hardwood report, importers said trade continued to pick up through September into October, with the consensus being that the result of the health crisis would be a downturn in sales for the year of between 10% and 20%. That clearly predicates a continued upturn for the rest of the year, as in the first eight months, total tropical imports were down 30% to US$599.7m compared with the same period in 2019.

The sharpest contraction came in tropical mouldings, down 42.5% to US$11.2m. Next came tropical plywood, 37.2% lower at US$106.1m. By supplier, the sharpest contraction was in plywood imports from China, 55.4% lower at US$66.8m. Imports from Malaysia actually increased 19.8% to US$42.6m, and those via Latvia 3.8% to US$6.8m. But from Indonesia they were 39.7% lower at US$23.9m, from Paraguay 37.1% to US$3.9m and Brazil 26.9% to US$3m.

Tropical wood furniture imports dropped 30.9% from January to August to US$337.2m. Imports from Vietnam were down to US$168.4m, from Malaysia 31.9% to US$70.7m, Indonesia 31.2% to US$31.3m, India 33.8% to US$23.7m and Thailand 27.3% to US$10m. Imports from Singapore were up 8.1% to US$24.7m.

Sawn wood imports contracted 25.7% to US$52.6m. Those from Cameroon were 11.7% lower at US$15m, from Malaysia 33.1% at US$7.6m, the Republic of the Congo (RoC) 50.1% at US$5.2m, via the Netherlands 20.3% at US$5.9m, from Ivory Coast 25.3% at US$2.3m and the Democratic Republic of the Congo 84.8% at US$810,000. Imports from Guyana were up 107% to US$3m and those via Italy 38% to US$1.3m.

Tropical joinery imports for the period fell 15.3% to US$94.2m, with those from Indonesia 18.8% lower at US$54.2m, from Malaysia 8.5% at US$24m, Vietnam 9.1% to US$6m, via Ireland 29% to US$3.3m and Brazil 26.4% to US$1.7m.

According to importers interviewed for the TTJ hardwood report in September, African supply was tighter due to mills’ Covid-19 work measures curtailing production, but continued development of the Port of Kribi in Cameroon had been improving logistics out of West Africa, although heavy rains have disrupted road travel. African prices were generally firm, however some UK companies “that need to turn stock into cash” were reported to be selling sapele as a “loss leader”.

Malaysian prices had returned to levels of three months ago, but had been volatile in between due to fluctuations in the value of the ringgit, and meranti supply was reported as “tight”.

Meanwhile, supply of FSC-certified timber from Brazil was forecast to rise, with more state and federal forest set to undergo certification.