Compared to the brilliant start to the year, the situation became much calmer in April. This was the general tenor among the KVH manufacturers. The merchants are said to have stocked up on enough goods in the past few months and end customers only buy what they actually need.
“At the moment, nobody is signing bigger contracts in advance – everyone is driving on sight,” as one German market participant put it. As for the order backlog of timber construction companies, several manufacturers of solid structural timber expect the market to pick up again in just a few weeks. Even though merchants and end customers filled their warehouses in the first quarter, manufacturers doubt that these stocks will be sufficient for the entire year.
The majority of KVH manufacturers expect a calm market development at least in the coming months. Neither a hype nor a crash is expected. As for the second half of this year, several producers expect construction projects to be delayed as a result of problems with the delivery of numerous other construction products.
Some manufacturers report constant prices compared to March, while others tried to raise them which they succeeded at only in part. Including the increases at the end of March, Holzkurier identified a price increase to €550/m³ in the month of April (in bulk, average price of all dimensions).
As for the coming months, manufacturers of solid structural timber expect – if anything – only a slight upward trend and are convinced that price will not reach last year’s peaks again.
