The Statistics Sweden figures, released by the Swedish Forest Industries Federation, show 438,000m3 of sawn and planed timber was shipped to the UK for the period. Planed softwood exports totalled 235,500m3, an increase of 24% on a year ago.
Sawn pine exports were up to 112,900m3, a growth of 12.6%, while sawn spruce grew 37.4% to 72,100m3. The average value of planed softwood exports (across all markets) was €232 per m3/FOB, while sawn pine was €205 and sawn spruce €201.
Egypt was the standout performer during the period, with sawn and planed exports rocketing an amazing 184% to 269,000m3. This growth was all in sawn products, with planed products representing a small volume in the country.
Magnus Niklasson, market analyst for the Swedish Forest Industries Federation, told TTJ that the positive figures for the UK and Egypt was due to two factors – market growth and a low comparative figure a year ago. January and February last year had the lowest pace of production in the last 20 years.
“But it has been a good start to the year,” he added. “There are three or four markets which are going pretty well.”
Swedish sawmillers have been making increasing overtures to the Chinese market and their sawn and planed volumes to the country rose 36% in the two-month period, though the total is still only 80,600m3. The biggest growth was seen in sawn spruce.
The Japanese market saw its imports of Swedish sawn and planed timber dip 16.1% to 128,400m3. Germany’s imports were up 5% to 157,000m3.
