Map excerpt of German softwood sawmills 2017
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German sawmills in full swing

Article by Martina Nöstler, translated by Susanne Höfler | 07.03.2018 - 14:44

It does not happen often that the cutting survey of the German sawmill industry concerning enterprises with annual logging volumes of 50,000 sm³ or more shows such clear-cut results: The vast majority reported to have increased the cutting volume in 2017 compared to the previous year.

Logging volumes of German sawmills (50,000 sm³/yr and more) between 2012 and 2018 (target); Timber-Online survey plus Timber-Online estimations
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The largest leap forward saw Ilim Timber Bavaria (ITB): While in 2016, the cutting volume was 900,000 sm³, Ilim reports a total cutting volume of 1.03 million sm³ for last year at their Bavarian site. By the way: The sawmill group with Russian roots is also running Germany's largest single site. In Wismar, the logging volume of last year reached 1.88 million sm³.

The second largest site in Germany is located in Plößberg: Timber industry Ziegler is operating several saw lines with a total volume of 1.75 million sm³ in 2017. Unlike Ilim, the Ziegler group is a family-owned and owner-managed timber industry.

Mercer Timber Products in Saalburg-Ebersdorf returend to the sawmill scene with current figures: The group rooted in the USA took over the sawmill in April 2017 from Klausner. Projecting over the whole year, the cutting volume reached 1.13 million sm³, and for 2018, the aim is to reach a cutting volume of 1.4 million sm³. Other timber industries that exceeded the 1 million sm³ mark in 2017 are the Torgau group with 1.062 million sm³ and Ilim Timber in Bavaria. Rettenmeier and Klenk Holz are excluded in the figures for 2017 and the ranking of individual sites since they only reported group loggings.

Map of softwood sawmills in Germany and Austria © Timber-Online

Speaking of the Klenk Holz AG: Binderholz took over the enterprise in October 2017. Up until now, Klenk reported of a volume of a bit more than 2 million sm³ for the sites in Baruth, Oberrot, and Wolfegg. For 2018, Binderholz aims to reach a cutting volume of 2.5 million sm³. Kösching reports a volume of 950,000 sm³ for 2017 and aims for 1.05 million sm³ this year. With the integration of Klenk Holz into the Binderholz group, the enterprise is rising to the top of the German sawmill industry (target 2018: 3.56 million sm³), with additional volumes from Austria (target 2018: 1 million sm³) as well as from Finnish sites. In the north, the launch of a new sawmill line with about 800,000 sm³/yr is expected for the fall (see article The emergence of a giant).

In 2016, German sawmills reported a cutting volume of 24.6 million sm³. Last year, the total volume reached 27.24 million sm³. The difference of 2.6 million sm³ is of course due to logging increases on the one hand. On the other hand, however, the 2017 survey also includes companies that did not provide any information in the previous year. Taking the latter into account, the additional quantity still amounts to 1.1 million sm³. For 2018, German sawmills anticipate a cutting volume of 28.89 million sm³ - for companies that did not specify any target figures, the calculated volume of 2017 was used. With this, this year's cutting volume increases by another 1.65 million sm³. This growth only comes from existing sawmills, currently no plans for new constructions are known in Germany.

Company	Location	Cutting volume 2016 (in 1,000 sm³/yr)	Cutting volume 2017 (in 1,000 sm³/yr)	Target 2018 (in 1,000 sm³/yr)	Employees	Further processing (in m³/yr)	Drying (in m³/yr)
ante-holz	Bromskirchen-Somplar	700	700	800	n/s	KVH, glulam, PG: 430,000	550,000
ante-holz	Rottleberode	650	700	850	n/s	KVH: 230,000 (capacity)	480,000
Aurnhammer	Ellwangen	90	90	90	43	50,000	30,000
Holzwerk Baumann	Wangen	100	100	100	50	10,000 wood packaging	20,000
Holzwerk Baur	Wain	180	195	220	85	KVH: 60,000, finger-jointed up to 14 m, as listed	70,000
Baust Holzbetrieb	Eslohe	50	50	50	25	GT, Pellets	15,000
Beckmann Holzwerk	Eslohe	75	80	80	30	KVH, as listed: 15,000; pressure impregnation, PG	18,000
Bentheimer Holz	Bad Bentheim	123	133	145	45	––	––
Bien Holz	Lauterbach	285	282	290	55	––	––
Bien Holz	Uelzen	290	301	303	55	––	––
Binderholz Deutschland	Kösching	900	950	1,050	n/s	PG: 130,000	520,000
Braun Holzwerk	Birkendorf-Ühlingen	50	50	55	n/s	n/s	n/s
Heinrich Bulthaup	Melle	84	81,5	80	19	n/s	12,500
Eugen Decker	Morbach	250	250	250	160	KVH/Duo/glulam: 100,000	n/s
Karl Decker	Hochscheid	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Dickel-Holz	Schmallenberg	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Dölker Holzwerk	Horb	140	140	140	50	n/s	20,000
Dold Holzwerk	Buchenbach	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Egger Sägewerk Brilon ¹	Brilon	710	755	n/s	175	400,000	400,000
Gebrüder Eigelshoven	Würselen	198	197	202	55	PG, impregnation, joining	25,000
Elka Holzwerke	Morbach	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Franz Fabri	Meschede-Grevenstein	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Finkbeiner	Triberg	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Ernst Fisch	Rüthen	185	200	200	65	n/s	50,000
GELO Holzwerke	Weißenstadt	250	250	250	90	KVH/KVH as listed (spruce/Douglas fir/pine): 70,000; PG (spruce/pine/Douglas fir/larch/Sib. larch): 50,000; I:50,000: 40,000; IPPC treatment ISPM No. 15; ZARELO	100,000
Hans Geyer	Stein an der Traun	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Erich Hagenah	Bülkau	85	85	85	60	PG: 15,000	12,000
Heinrich Harling	Bergen-Eversen	80	80	80	65	15,000 PG, MH-Fix/Plus, KDI, packagings, joining service	20,000
Holzindustrie Hassel	Stockum-Püschen	100	100	100	22	PG: 40,000	40,000
Hermes Holz	Stadtkyll	250	250	250	45	PG: 50,000, battens, impregnation green, S10 P.T.G. floorings dyed red	50,000
HILO-Holz	Losheim (Eifel)	200	200	200	45	45,000	35,000
Hirschbach	Sulzbach-Laufen	182	178	180	70	680	60,000
HIT Torgau	Torgau	1,056	1,062	1,173	570	568,000	480,000
HMS-Holz Gruppe	Hagenow	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
HMS-Holz Gruppe	Kleinwallstadt	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Heinrich Holtmeyer & Sohn	Ottersberg	85	100	100	37	10,000	13,000
Gebrüder Hosenfeld ²	Hosenfeld	70	100	100	50	PG, GT, pellets, specializing in larch/Douglas fir; biomass plant	n/s
Hüster	Warstein	150	160	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
I.B.H. Sägewerk ³	Harperscheid	n/s	250	250	50	––	––
Ilim Timber Bavaria (ITB)	Landsberg am Lech	900	1,030	n/s	200	373,000	373,000
Ilim Nordic Timber (INT)	Wismar	1860	1,880	n/s	400	718,000	718,000
Hermann Keller	Achern	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Kellerholz ⁴	Lichtenau-Scherzheim	100	120	130	45	PG: 10,000	10,000
Johann Kirchhoff (Joki)	Finnentrop	130	140	145	40	40,000	40,000
Klenk Holz-Gruppe ⁵	Baruth	730	2,060	1,350	n/s	680,000	950,000
Klenk Holz-Gruppe ⁵	Oberrot	1080		880
Klenk Holz-Gruppe ⁵	Wolfegg	220		280
Sägewerk Koch	Langenbach	80	80	n/s	30	5,000	20,000
Aloysius Krenzer	Poppenhausen-Abtsroda	45	50	50	n/s	n/s	n/s
Aloysius Krenzer	Biebergemünd	180	170	180
Aloysius Krenzer	Dorndorf	200	200	210
Künzel Holz	Issigau	165	165	165	47	n/s	55,000
Holzwerke Ladenburger	Kerkingen	800	850	850	n/s	n/s	n/s
Holz-Maag	Finnentrop-Fretter	60	47	50	32	n/s	n/s
Mercer Timber Products	Saalburg-Ebersdorf	n/s	1,130	1,400	350	PG: 235,000	645,000
Holz Otto	Waldkappel	120	120	120	55	25,000 (KVH, laminated timber, joining, nail plate trusses)	70,000
Pfeifer Holz	Lauterbach	800	800	850	200	n/s	550,000
Pfeifer Holz	Uelzen	480	490	490	140
Pfeifer Holz	Unterbernbach	700	730	780	250
Pfeifle Holz	Seewald-Schorrental	n/s	62	62	n/s	n/s	n/s
Pieper-Holz	Olsberg-Assinghausen	265	280	280	115	20,000 GT and playgrounds	70,000
Sägewerk Poschenrieder	Grünenbach	50	55	60	19	10,000	25,000
Holz Centrum Regensburg	Wenzenbach-Gonnersdorf	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Rettenmeier Holzindustrie	Ramstein	1,500	1,800	1,800	850	600,000	600,000
Rettenmeier Holzindustrie	Wilburgstetten
Rettenmeier Holzindustrie	Hirschberg
Holzwerke Riedlinger	Singen-Bohlingen	90	90	90	30	4,000; wood packaging; IPPC treatment	n/s
Robeta Holz	Milmersdorf	250	300	300	160	40,000	60,000
Sägewerk Rothmund	Klettgau	51	57	60	8	n/s	n/s
Holz Ruser	Bornhöved	195	191	195	120	KVH: 53,000 PG: 15,000	75,000
Holz Schiller	Regen	120	120	120	230	50,000 knot-free laminated timber & window components, facades and front doors, PG, knot-free GT	50,000
Holzwerk Schilling	Rot an der Rot	150	170	190	70	PG: 12,000	45,000
Holz Schmidt	Cölbe-Schönstadt	n/s	100	100	100	KVH, PG	80,000
Gebr. Schneider Holz	Eberhardzell	100	110	120	350	220,000	60,000
Schrage Holz	Olpe-Neuenkleusheim	48	48	52	17	14,500	9,000
Theodor Schulte	Meschede	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Sägewerk Schwaiger	Hengersberg	880	900	950	200	n/s	n/s
Schwarzmühle	Meuselbach-Schwarzmühle	80	87	87	20	n/s	n/s
Holzindustrie Schweighofer	Kodersdorf	900	920	1,000	400	PG: 300,000	540,000
Schwörer Haus ⁷	Hohenstein-Oberstetten	200	200	205	1,300	150,000: KVH, glulam, duo/trio/quattro beams, three-layer particleboard	130,000
Karl Streit	Hausach	333	357	365	85	PG, battens, I: 50,000	70,000
SWL Tischlerplatten	Marienmünster	85	80	95	18	n/s	n/s
Holzwerke Waal	Waal	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Van Roje & Sohn	Oberhonnefeld	320	315	315	115	15,000	117,000
E.A. Vehmeyer	Haselünne	125	120	125	36	––	17,000
Vente-Holz	Finnentrop	90	100	110	75	KVH/duo/trio: 65,000	70,000
Holzwerke Weinzierl	Vilshofen	650	643	650	120	n/s	325,000
Josef Ziegler	Plößberg-Stein	250	250	250	80	PG: 10,000, KVH: 15,000	50,000
Ziegler Holzindustrie	Plößberg-Betzenmühle	1,650	1,750	1,800	500	PG: 500,000	550,000

Source: All details in the table (unless otherwise indicated) provided by the enterprise in question. The table makes no claim to completeness. Printing and typographical errors reserved. Abbreviations: Glulam - glue-laminated timber; GT - garden timber; PG - planed goods; I - impregnation; KVH - structural finger-jointed timber; 1 Volume of drying and further processing: capacity data; 2 Fire in July 2015, approx. one year construction time. Full cutting capacity in 2017. Cuttings excl. larch, Douglas fir and pine; 3 Sawmill I.B.V, Vielsalm/BE: Cutting 800,000 sm³/yr; employees: 260; pellets factory: 300,000 t/yr; drying 300,000 m³/yr; planing mill: 150,000 m³/yr; 4 Further processing and drying refer to capacity data; 5 Binderholz announced the takeover of the Klenk Holz AG at the beginning of October 2017; Cartel authorities approved the acquisition at the beginning of November 2017; 6 Mercer Timber took over the location from Klausner in April 2017. Specified annual volumes projected, volume since takeover on April 12th, 2017: Cutting 803,000 sm³/yr; planed goods: 167,000 m³, target 2018: 250,000 m³; drying 457,000 m³, target 2018: 800,000 m³; 7 Headcount applies to the whole group. © Timber-Online 2018