Host Fryer (above), EOS president Sampsa Auvinen (bottom left) and ETTF vice-president Morten Bergsten greeted the online participants
© Holzkurier.com
COVID-19 not only forced the organizers of the event, i.e. the European Organization of the Sawmill Industry (EOS) and the European Timber Trade Federation (ETTF), to change their plans. The pandemic also dominates developments on the market. European softwood sawn timber production, for example, is going to decrease by 3% this year, according to EOS president Sampsa Auvinen who adds: “At least, it is not as marked as the contraction of the GDP is going to be.” Next year, a minimal increase of 1% in production is expected, though.
The presentations, which covered all important global softwood markets, showed how much repercussions of the COVID-19-related restrictions differ from country to country (A detailed report is going to follow). However, the speeches and contributions had one common denominator: There are big winners as well as big losers.
Home office, short-time work, cocooning, political measures aimed at increasing the conservation of resources – all of these trends led to an incredible dynamic on the global wood market and to supply chains partly drying up. As several representatives of timber trade put it: “We could have sold more if there had been more wood.”
Thanks to a short lockdown, a mostly good and convenient supply and receptive markets, Central European softwood sawmills are without doubt the winners.
In India or on North African markets, on the other hand, supply was partly insufficient because other markets were much more attractive.
Whatever the market, supply seems to be more uncertain than demand. The latter is expected to remain on a high level in 2021 as well.
