The UK’s overall timber imports fell 9.3% in from January to October last year.
According to the latest statistics from The Timber Trade Federation (TTF), wood panel imports increased by 4.8%, but this was more than offset by a 15.4% decline in solid wood.
Softwood imports for the period were down 15.6% at 3.86 million m³. The biggest declines came in imports of German and Irish material, which were 37% and 30% lower respectively. October was described by the TTF as a “particularly poor month” with imports down 27% on the same month in 2010.
Hardwood imports for the first ten months fell by 12.6% to 354,000m³.
Imports from Italy and France both rose by 13%, but there were falls for Malaysia, Cameroon, Germany and the US, although the latter still saw its market share rise to 25%.
All plywood imports rose 6.3% to 1.14 million m³. Within that, hardwood plywood imports increased 7% to 770,000m³. In the period Chinese imports increased 23% to take 49% of the market. Malaysian imports fell 26%.
