Decreasing global softwood lumber trade

Article by Martina Nöstler (translated by Eva Guzely) | 14.04.2026 - 09:21

Last year was marked by a decrease in global softwood lumber trade (incl. planed timber). The 15 largest exporting countries sold just over 101 million m³ of softwood lumber to the 15 largest importing countries. Compared to 2024, this corresponds to a 5% decrease.

Canada saw its total exports decrease by 11% year on year to 27.8 million m³ in 2025. Russian exports, on the other hand, remained relatively stable at 18 million m³ (-4%), as did Swedish exports (-1% to 13.8 million m³). Finland recorded an increase of 11% to 9 million m³ in foreign trade with the 15 largest importing countries, while German foreign trade was down by 15%, totaling just under 7.6 million m³. Austria is the world’s sixth-largest exporter of softwood lumber (-5% to 6 million m³).

Scroll down to read about the 20 biggest global softwood lumber trade flows.

Global foreign trade | 2025
Horizontal: 15 biggest importing countries \| Vertical: 15 biggest exporting countries
Table of softwood lumber trade flows from the 15 biggest exporting countries to the 15 biggest importing countries as well as to the MENA region (volumes in 1,000 m³). National statistics on lumber exports were used as sources (as of March 2026).
Countries	Total 2024	Total 2025	Diff. in %	USA	China	Great Britain	Italy	Japan	Egypt	Germany	Uzbekistan	Netherlands	Mexico	France	Saudi Arabia	Austria	Estonia	Korea	Other countries	MENA region
Canada	31,452	27,848	–11	24,624	1,195	23	3	889	5	82	0	16	59	4	35	1	0	42	870	93
Russia	18,700	18,000	–4	0	10,152	0	0	560	550	0	2,280	0	n/s	0	n/s	0	0	354	4,103	1,700
Sweden	13,595	13,758	1	1,306	346	2,684	48	753	1,315	788	0	1,051	0	333	245	60	207	97	4,526	2,687
Finland	8,159	9,041	11	89	453	734	198	779	1,426	520	0	313	0	447	443	176	775	23	2,667	2,879
Germany	8,900	7,561	–15	1,951	92	374	527	110	16	–	0	640	7	642	96	710	1	50	2,345	321
Austria	5,755	6,062	5	98	13	82	2,587	174	3	971	0	13	0	94	213	–	1	24	1,787	1,015
Brazil	2,793	2,927	5	895	183	1	9	0	0	3	0	0	511	24	233	0	0	6	1,061	574
USA	2,983	2,741	–8	–	52	15	11	48	15	2	0	7	1,049	6	0	0	0	4	1,533	30
Latvia	2,802	2,602	–7	163	11	993	19	77	116	84	0	119	0	91	3	16	229	80	601	175
Chile	2,430	2,264	–7	282	220	1	1	128	0	0	0	0	247	0	89	0	0	350	946	233
Belarus	2,274	2,216	–3	0	1,099	0	0	0	n/s	0	400	0	n/s	0	n/s	0	0	9	708	n/s
New Zealand	1,667	1,844	11	264	294	1	0	41	0	2	0	55	7	0	41	0	4	160	976	142
Czech Republic	1,781	1,685	–5	73	8	26	137	45	0	500	0	8	0	12	2	344	0	9	521	9
Ukraine	1,657	1,510	–9	0	3	1	164	6	0	96	0	36	0	2	0	2	4	4	1,191	35
Romania	1,268	1,191	–6	76	28	12	55	97	1	5	0	1	2	1	130	41	0	4	739	635
Total	106,217	101,251	–5	29,821	14,148	4,945	3,760	3,707	3,446	3,053	2,680	2,259	1,882	1,657	1,530	1,349	1,222	1,215	24,577	10,528

Product groups: 440711, 440712, 440713, 440714, 440719. Sources/Exporters: AT: Statistik Austria; BR: MDIC/Comex Stat; CA: Statistics Canada; CZ: Czech Statistical Office; CL: Ministry of Agriculture (Minagri – Chile), period Jan-Aug 2025; DE: Destatis; FI: Finnish Customs; LV: Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia; NZ: Statistics New Zealand; RO: Eurostat; SE: Statistics Sweden; US: United States Department of Agriculture. Notes: Russia, Belarus: Volumes in the table refer to data reported by the respective importing country. Sources: CN: China Customs; JP: Statistics of Japan. Russian exports to Uzbekistan, Egypt, the MENA region and total volume: Holzkurier estimate. Belarus: “Other countries” refers to Azerbaijan (506,000 m³ acc. to UN Comtrade), Turkey (93,000 m³ acc. to Turkish Statistical Institute) as well as Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (110,000 m³ acc. to UN Comtrade). For the same period of the previous year, the same markets were taken into account. Ukraine: Holzkurier estimate based on figures from the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine for the Q1-Q3 2025 and figures reported by importers. Total import volumes of Egypt, MENA region without volumes from Belarus; Saudi Arabia, other countries without volumes from Russia and Belarus | © www.holzkurier.com

Despite a year-on-year decrease of 12%, deliveries from Canada to the US, which totaled 24.6 million m³ last year, were once again the biggest global trade flow. The value of the traded softwood lumber fell by 10% to US-$6.7 billion. As in 2024, the second largest trade flow in 2025 was the one from Russia to China (10 million m³; -10%). Deliveries from Sweden to Great Britain ranked third (2.7 million m³; -1%). Last year, the cumulative export volume of these three countries was down by almost 4.6 million m³, or 11%, compared to 2024.

Austria remained the number four in the ranking of the largest global softwood lumber exporters: Last year, Austria exported around 2.6 million m³ to Italy, i.e. exactly the same volume as in 2024.

Shipments from Germany to the USA decreased by 6% to 1.95 million m³ in 2025, while Finland exported 12% more softwood lumber to Egypt (1.4 million m³; 7th place). Double-digit percentage changes were also recorded in exports from Sweden to the US (+27% to 1.3 million m³), from Austria to Germany (+21% to 971,000 m³), and from Canada to Japan (-10% to 889,000 m³).

The 20 biggest global softwood lumber trade flows | 2025
Place	Exporting country	Importing country	1–12 2024	1–12 2025	Diff. in %	1–12 2024	1–12 2025	Diff. in %
Trade flows incl. planed timber in 1,000 m³ and million US-$
Place	Exporting country	Importing country	in 1,000 m³		Diff. in %	in M. US-$		Diff. in %
1	Canada	USA	28,057	24,624	–12	7,517	6,739	–10
2	Russia	China	11,247	10,152	–10	2,330	2,089	–10
3	Sweden	Great Britain	2,717	2,684	–1	819	938	15
4	Austria	Italy	2,583	2,587	0.2	643	745	16
5	Russi	Uzbekistan	2,163	2,280	5	343	410	20
6	Germany	USA	2,082	1,951	–6	572	616	8
7	Finland	Egypt	1,270	1,426	12	244	287	18
8	Sweden	Egypt	1,438	1,315	–9	279	261	–6
9	Sweden	USA	1,028	1,306	27	304	431	42
10	Canada	China	1,308	1,195	–9	268	284	6
11	Belarus	China	1.159	1.099	–5	221	215	–3
12	Sweden	Netherlands	1,091	1,051	–4	331	387	17
13	USA	Mexico	1,079	1,049	–3	255	256	0.4
14	Latvia	Great Britain	929	993	7	295	360	22
15	Austria	Germany	800	971	21	244	347	42
16	Brazil	USA	922	895	–3	233	216	–7
17	Canada	Japan	990	889	–10	433	437	1
18	Sweden	Denmark	830	791	–5	243	279	15
19	Sweden	Germany	763	788	3	228	271	19
20	Finland	Japan	748	779	4	214	242	13

Product groups: 440711, 440712, 440713, 440714, 440719. Sources/Exporters: AT: Statistik Austria; BR: Comex Stat – MDIC; CA: Statistics Canada; DE: Destatis; FI: Finnish Customs; LV: Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia; SE: Statistics Sweden; US: United States Department of Agriculture. Exports from RU and BY to CN acc. to China Customs Statistics; Exports from RU to UZ 2024: UN Comtrade/State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistics, 2025: Holzkurier estimate. Value of exports from AT, FI and LV: conversion of EUR into USD; from SE: conversion of SEK into USD | © www.holzkurier.com