Press release: European lumber consumption in positive trend

12/6/2016

Europe's consumption of softwood lumber fell dramatically after 2007 as a direct consequence of the collapse in construction. What prevented an even greater decline in lumber consumption was a continued solid activity in renovation and maintenance of buildings. According to the recently published analysis by Euroconstruct, construction in Europe is estimated to increase gradually until 2019 and laying the foundation for an increase in European lumber consumption. "We anticipate that lumber consumption will increase at the same pace as construction in the next few years, but it is also, however, a prognosis that is characterized by uncertainty due to Brexit, development in China and the U.S. etc., " says Jenny Wessung, CEO of Woodstat. Consumption of softwood lumber this year is estimated to about 89 million m³, which represents an increase of about 1.5 million m³ compared to 2015. The annual increase during 2017 to 2019 will be about the same size according to Woodstat's forecast. The increase in consumption is mainly due to all new construction of housing and to some extent other building construction. Renovation and maintenance of housing are expected to remain at a high stable level.

Although consumption is now expected to increase in the coming years, the level of 2019 is significantly lower than before the financial crisis.

For more information contact:
Jenny Wessung, CEO
Woodstat AB
jenny.wessung@woodstat.com
https://www.woodstat.com 


About Woodstat
Since 2007 Woodstat delivers comprehensive statistics and analysis to sawmills, forest owners and banks across the world. Woodstat publishes approximately 400 issues of the newsletter "Market News" every year. The Market News are concise and contain the latest market statistics for the manufactured lumber product industry. Woodstat's charts collection is available at www.woodstat.com and contains hundreds of relevant diagrammatic data for anyone working in the wood or forest industry.