The table shows how the 20 largest sawmills in Europe have developed since 2010. The diagram illustrates the changes of lumber production of the top 10 over the same period. © Johannes Plackner

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Europe's Big Players are expanding

Article by Hannes Plackner, translated by Robert Spannlang | 22.05.2013 - 16:49

Top 20 sawmills plan on adding 2.4% to hit 33 million m³

In 2012, the 20 largest sawmills in Europe produced 32 million m³ of softwood lumber. This year, 33 million m³ are being targeted. This is one of the results of a Timber-online-survey among leaders of the industry. A nordic affair with a side trip to the mountains are the top 3 of the European sawmill companies: Clearly number one is Stora Enso, Helsinki/FI, with a lumber production of 4.59 million m³ last year. Next is Ilim Timber, St. Petersburg/RU, with an output of 2.16 million m³. It must be noted, however, that only two of the five Ilim sawmills are located in Europe: the former Klausner-mills in Wismar/DE and Landsberg/DE. Two other mills of the Group are in the US and one is in Russia. Ranking third are – ex equo – the four sawmills of Mayr-Melnhof, Leoben/AT, and the seven operations of SCA Timber, Sundsvall/SE. Both companies have stated to be planning on a lumber production of 1.7 million m³ in the current and coming year. But whereas SCA has recently installed high-performance and high-tech equipment at their "future sites" in Tunadal, Bollstabruk and Munksund, Mayr-Melnhof has "installed" restructuring specialists on the board of their timber-division and on the supervisory board.

The profitability problems of the Central European sawmill industry is also evident in the outputs. No German or Austrian sawmill group has announced a significant output increase. At the same time, local mills in the UK and in Romania are thriving to become players on a European scale. For Britain this is true for BSW Timber, Berwickshire/GB, (1 million m³, rank 17) which has recently started up a new line in Fort William/GB in Scottland. Holzindustrie Schweighofer (1.6 million m³, rank 9) has announced the construction of a new sawmill in Romania. In addition, the Group based in Vienna has complete plans for a new sawmill in the Ukraine up in their sleeve. The largest output increase was announced in one of the regions where roundwood is running low: Southern Sweden. This is where Södra (1.4 million m³, rank 11) intends to step up production to full capacity during the year the very sawline that used to work for Klausner in Adelebsen/DE.

Europe's Top 20 softwood lumber producers (in 1000 m³)
Ranking 2012	Ranking 2013	Group	Country	Locations	av. output per sawmill (2012)	2010	2011	2012	2013	Diff in % 2012 bis 2013
1	1	Stora Enso Building and Living	FI	23	200	5.057	4.920	4.592	4.530	–1,4%
2	2	Ilim Timber Gruppe	RU¹	6	360	2.030	2.030	2.158	2.158	0,0%
3	3	SCA Timber	SE	7	286	2.100	1.800	2.000	2.000	0,0%
3	3	Mayr-Melnhof Holz Holding	AT	4	500	2.100	2.000	2.000	2.000	0,0%
5	5	Moelven Group	NO	19	103	1.817	1.893	1.955	2.021	3,4%
6	6	Pfeifer Holz	AT	5	350	1.700	1.850	1.750	1.760	0,6%
7	7	UPM Timber	FI	6	283	1.729	1.683	1.696	1.696	0,0%
8	8	Klausner-Group	DE³	2	810	2.173	1.700	1.620	1.830	13,0%
9	9	Metsä Wood	FI	9	179	1.500	1.550	1.610	1.650	2,5%
9	10	Holzindustrie Schweighofer	RO²	2	800	1.400	1.500	1.600	1.700	6,3%
11	10	Setra Group	SE	9	178	1.562	1.600	1.600	1.700	6,3%
11	12	Södra Timber	SE	9	156	1.700	1.400	1.400	1.700	21,4%
13	12	Rettenmeier	DE	5	280	1.450	1.375	1.400	1.300	–7,1%
13	14	Vida Timber	SE	7	179	1.000	1.200	1.250	1.200	–4,0%
15	15	Klenk Holz	DE	3	400	1.250	1.200	1.200	1.200	0,0%
16	16	Ante-Holz	DE	2	525	926	1.050	1.050	1.050	0,0%
17	17	BSW Timber	UK	7	143	990	900	1.000	1.300	30,0%
17	17	Ziegler	DE	1	1.000	1.000	1.000	1.000	1.000	0,0%
19	19	Versowood	FI	3	270	779	779	810	890	9,9%
20	20	Binderholz	AT	2	400	1.000	800	800	800	0,0%
average/sum				6,6	370	33.263	32.230	32.491	33.485	3,1%

Trend towards large-scale sawmills

The average lumber production per sawmill site has slightly increased. With 254,000 m³ per sawmill site this value has gone up by 3.3% compared with the last survey in 2011. The reason is that particularly smaller sites have been closed down. While the top 20 companies have operated a total of 135 sawmills two years ago, this figure is down to 126 now. The largest average output per sawmill was achieved by Holzindustrie Ziegler. On several lines the company is planning to produce 1 million m³ of lumber a year in Ploessberg/DE. Schweighofer's high performance sawmills in Romania reach an average of 850,000 m³ a year. Klausner, Ante-Holz and Mayr-Melnhof Timber also register at an annual output of more than 500,000 m³ per sawmill. Clearly more small structured are the Scandinavians. Stora Enso and Moelven operate 19 sawmills each, SCA Timber currently runs seven, but will close down two in 3Q 2013.

On the global scale, European sawmill groups do not rank among the largest. The "Billion Board Foot Club" – a ranking put together by International Wood Markets, Vancouver/CA – lists West Fraser (2012: 7.95 million m³ of softwood lumber), Canfor (6.96 million m³) and Weyerhaeuser (6.15 million m³) as the largest three groups.

Problems of Big Players

The last major change in ownership recently was the Ilim-Klausner Deal in mid-2010. But now other shifts in ownership are pending. The sale of the Klenk Group, for example, is said to be finalized around midyear. One sentence in a Stora Enso press release dd. April 23 might well have far-reaching consequences: "The sale of non-core assets will be considered". The question arises whether timber and further processing are regarded as key areas for the pulp and paper group. Stora Enso's "Building and Living"-Division has sold products worth € 441 million last year – that is 16% of the group's turnover. However, in operating EBIT terms the wood sector only contributed 5% of the earnings within the group.