The European Organisation of the Sawmill Industry‘s annual spring meeting in Brussels gave members a chance to talk about Hurricane Kyrill, which blew down 55 million m3 of wood across Europe.
Concerns were raised about logistics and possible spread of the spruce bark beetle. But they did not foresee any problems when the fallen wood is placed on the market as damage was considered to be regional and well below annual production demand.
Sawmillers heard that Germany suffered more than 27.5 million m3 of damage, with Sweden and the Czech Republic recording 12 million m3 and 10 million m3 respectively. Damage in Austria has been estimated at 3 million m3, while Poland has reported 2.5 million m3 damage.
Meanwhile, hardwood sawmilling members expressed concern about the large quantities of log exports to non-European markets. They said the exports created a supply shortage within Europe and put extra pressure on a sector which has already faced major problems for several years.
