UK timber and panel consumption fell by 23% in 2008 to 13.9 million m³, according to new provisional data.
The drop of just over 4 million m³, contained in statistics prepared by Nick Moore of Timbertrends on behalf of The Timber Trade Federation (TTF), follows earlier data which showed the volume of imported products fell by 25% last year.
The new stats also show that UK softwood imports in January and February were down 44.5% to 580,000m³ compared with the same period a year ago. Sweden had the biggest share with 58.2% even though its volumes were down 20%, followed by Finland (15.1%), Latvia (8.8%) and Germany (4.9%).
Russia, Germany and Latvia experienced the biggest loss of market share.
For the month of February alone, Sweden had a 62.9% market share, up from 43% a year ago, with Finland following at 13.2%.
UK hardwood imports reduced by 37.9% during January and February to 52,000m³, with the US remaining the top hardwood source with a 24.9% market share (2008:23.2%), followed by Cameroon (11.7%), Germany (8.6%), France (7%) and Malaysia (5.9%).
A 39.7% dip was recorded for all types of imported plywood, with January-February volumes reaching 162,000m³. Malaysia overtook China as the number one hardwood plywood source, while Brazil retained its status as premier softwood plywood source – 51% market share.
“The figures reinforce the difficult trading conditions faced by the industry over the past year,” said TTF chief executive John White. “While the figures are not unexpected, they are unprecedented.”
