This was the view of the Timber Trade Federation and Confor which co-hosted and organised the event in Edinburgh from October 17-18.
The ISC is the annual joint conference of the European Timber Trade Federation (ETTF) and European Organisation of the Sawmill Industry (EOS) and held in a different member country each year. It last took place in the UK in 2000.
The event attracted 150 delegates from timber companies and industry bodies across Europe and further afield, and was preceded by a tour of the UK timber supply chain. This included visits to the Fort William and Lockerbie facilities of sawmillers BSW and James Jones & Sons respectively, and Mactaggart & Mickel timber-frame athletes’ village housing being built for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
"The content and format of the conference itself received tremendous feedback," said Mr White. "And the tour attracted very positive comments. Some people who weren’t so familiar with the UK sawmill industry were seriously impressed with its sophistication and scale. For others, it re-emphasised the important place this country occupies in the international softwood market."
George Webb, group purchasing manager of Norbord Europe Ltd, told the conference that in a matter of decades, the UK softwood sector had increased its domestic market share from 10% to 42%. And Ed Pepke, senior timber trade and policy analyst at the European Forest Institute, said that UK annual output, forecast at over 3.5 million m³ for 2014 and growing, ranked it the EU’s seventh biggest softwood producer.
Sampsa Auvinen, chief executive of Norvik Timber Industries, said delegates were "surprised and impressed" with the mill visits and likened the rise of UK softwood mills to that of New World wine producers.
"We perhaps didn’t take them seriously, now we have to," he said.
Mr White added that the TTF and Confor jointly hosting the event not only underlined the UK’s "significance as both timber trader and producer", it also highlighted growing cross-industry co-operation in the UK, with both belonging to the pan-sector Timber Accord group of trade bodies.
Peter Wilson, director of the Wood Studio at Edinburgh Napier University’s Forest Products Research Institute, also gave a presentation on its development of Scottish engineered wood construction products and systems.
