From January to September, the 20 biggest global softwood lumber trade flows totaled nearly 48 million m³ or US-$11.5 billion. While trade volumes fell by just 4% compared to the same period of last year, the value of the trade volumes decreased by more than 42%. When dividing the value by the total trade volume, the result is a price which fell by US-$399 to US-$239/m³.
The biggest global flow of softwood lumber is the one from Canada to the US with 21.1 million m³ or US-$ 5.53 billion. Here, a loss in volume of 9% and a loss in value of 44% were recorded.
Russia, on the other hand, exported slightly more softwood lumber (+1%; 9.02 million m³) to China, while the value of these shipments fell by 13% to US-$1.79 billion. A more marked increase can be observed in exports from Sweden to Great Britain (17%; 2.13 million m³) but here, too, the value of exports decreased by 19% to US-$620 million.
The fourth biggest trade flow was the one from Austria to Italy (1.9 million m³; -11%), followed by German shipments to the US (1.84 million m³; -7%). These two trade flows also lost significantly in value, at US-$620 million (-30%) and US-$502 million (-29%) respectively. Equally as remarkable are exports from Russia to Kazakhstan, which have grown by 81% to over 600,000 m³, as well as the increase in volumes shipped from Canada (1.12 million m³; +28%) and Belarus (664,000 m³; 57%) to China.
| Trade flows incl. planed timber in 1,000 m³ and US-$1,000 | ||||||||
| N. | Exporter | Importer | Jan – Sep in 1,000 m³ | Diff. in % | Jan – Sep in US-$1,000 | Diff. in % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2023 | 2022 | 2023 | |||||
| 1 | Canada | USA | 23,248 | 21,114 | –9 | 9,881,737 | 5,534,119 | –44 |
| 2 | Russia | China | 8,938 | 9,019 | 1 | 2,061,288 | 1,792,057 | –13 |
| 3 | Sweden | Great Britain | 1,823 | 2,134 | 17 | 766,125 | 620,057 | –19 |
| 4 | Austria | Italy | 2,143 | 1,899 | –11 | 717,027 | 502,503 | –30 |
| 5 | Germany | USA | 1,972 | 1,835 | –7 | 723,997 | 512,073 | –29 |
| 6 | Russia | Uzbekistan | 1,721 | 1,600 | –7 | n/s | n/s | n/s |
| 7 | Canada | China | 873 | 1,120 | 28 | 225,253 | 203,381 | –10 |
| 8 | Sweden | Egypt | 809 | 914 | 13 | 186,161 | 153,038 | –18 |
| 9 | Sweden | USA | 906 | 840 | –7 | 402,952 | 243,871 | –39 |
| 10 | USA | Mexico | 743 | 819 | 10 | 2,255,390 | 201,565 | –91 |
| 11 | Sweden | Netherlands | 738 | 801 | 8 | 297,299 | 221,635 | –25 |
| 12 | Finland | Egypt | 842 | 777 | –8 | 191,391 | 122,243 | –36 |
| 13 | Latvia | Great Britain | 963 | 666 | –31 | 415,347 | 215,689 | –48 |
| 14 | Belarus | China | 421 | 664 | 57 | 96,416 | 120,053 | 25 |
| 15 | Canada | Japan | 892 | 636 | –29 | 695,656 | 291,345 | –58 |
| 16 | Russia | Kazakhstan | 347 | 629 | 81 | 33,552 | 33,654 | 0.3 |
| 17 | Sweden | Denmark | 608 | 615 | 1 | 235,764 | 163,370 | –31 |
| 18 | Sweden | Germany | 576 | 603 | 5 | 220,032 | 166,688 | –24 |
| 19 | Germany | France | 642 | 602 | –6 | 260,438 | 191,038 | –27 |
| 20 | Germany | Austria | 732 | 600 | –18 | 254,747 | 166,402 | –35 |
