This year, the twenty biggest sawmills in Europe want to produce more than 39 million m³ of softwood sawn timber, which is 4% more than in the very satisfactory previous year. In 2018, 37.3 million m³ of softwood sawn timber were produced. The main sawmill companies thus plan to grow four times as much as the EU’s GDP (+1.2%) this year.
The number one remains number one
As in the last Holzkurier survey for 2018, the number one softwood sawn timber producer is Finnish paper and sawmill group Stora Enso. The group is not only in first place with 4.9 million m³ of softwood sawn timber produced in 2019, but also plans the most marked raise in production in 2020, i.e. +14% to 5.7 million m³. Binderholz group follows in second place with a reported output of 3 million m³ at its seven sawmills. In 2020, Binderholz wants to raise it by another 5% to 3.2 million m³. Pfeifer Holz ranks third with 2.3 million m³ in 2019. The company plans to produce 2.35 million m³ which would be 2% more than in the year before.
HS Timber (formerly Holzindustrie Schweighofer) wants to increase production by 10% from 1.9 million m³ in 2019 to 2.1 million m³ this year. In 2020, Ante-Holz plans the second most marked raise in production with +12% to 1.3 million m³ (2019: 1.1 million m³). This would mean that the company would make up a few places in the Top 20. Since the 2018 survey, Ilim Timber fell from third to 13th place.
In the Top 20 with just one sawmill
Ziegler Holzindustrie also needs to be highlighted. For years, the company has always been among the Top 20 producers with just one sawmill in Germany. The production site Betzenmühle in Plößberg/DE is Europe’s biggest single sawmill. Since 1948, the company has evolved continuously. Ziegler will remain the biggest European sawmill even after the start-up of Metsä Fibre’s € 200 million sawmill in Rauma/FI where Metsä plans to produce 750,000 m³ a year.
| Ranked according to 2019, in 1,000 m³ | ||||||
| Place 2019 | Company | Headquarters | Number of sawmills | Production 2019 | Target 2020 | Diff. in % (19/20) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stora Enso | FI | 18 | 4,918 | 5,690 | 14 |
| 2 | Binderholz + Klenk Holz | AT | 7 | 3,050 | 3,200 | 5 |
| 3 | Pfeifer Holz | AT | 6 | 2,300 | 2,350 | 2 |
| 4 | SCA Timber | SE | 5 | 2,080 | 2,150 | 3 |
| 5 | Moelven Group | NO | 16 | 2,036 | 2,113 | 4 |
| 6 | Södra Timber 1) | SE | 7 | 2,010 | 2,010 | 0 |
| 7 | Mayr-Melnhof Holz | AT | 3 | 2,000 | 2,025 | 1 |
| 8 | Metsä Fibre 1) | FI | 6 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 0 |
| 9 | HS Timber | AT | 4 | 1,900 | 2,100 | 10 |
| 10 | Rettenmeier Holzindustrie | DE | 5 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 0 |
| 11 | Setra Group | SE | 7 | 1,641 | 1,695 | 3 |
| 12 | Vida/Canfor 3) | SE | 9 | 1,604 | 1,604 | 0 |
| 13 | Ilim Timber 2) | DE | 2 | 1,600 | 1,600 | 0 |
| 14 | UPM Timber | FI | 4 | 1,500 | 1,500 | 0 |
| 15 | Fruytier Group 1) | BE | 11 | 1,500 | 1,500 | 0 |
| 16 | Versowood 1) | FI | 4 | 1,350 | 1,350 | 0 |
| 17 | BSW Timber 1) | UK | 8 | 1,228 | 1,228 | 0 |
| 18 | Ziegler Holzindustrie 2) | DE | 1 | 1,200 | 1,200 | 0 |
| 19 | Ante-Holz | DE | 2 | 1,150 | 1,300 | 12 |
| 20 | Karl Hedin | SE | 5 | 895 | 905 | 1 |
| Total | 37,762 | 39,320 | 4 | |||
