The world's four largest importers of softwood lumber cut back their volumes in 2018. With a decline of 18%, the United States was the biggest decelerator. Great Britain followed with -13%. Japan (-6%) and China (-5%) also registered declines. Overall, woodprices.com reports a global decline of 7%.
In North America, prices were "acting up" and dropped towards the end of the year. Canada tried in vain to expand its customer base and for this reason delivered abundant volumes to the US and less to China. In Northern Europe, in return, the year ended with a high price level what in turn lowered exports in the middle one-digit percentage range. Timber was rather sold domestically. Japan and China received significantly less deliveries.
China's imports were dropping for two quarters and, towards the end of the year, dropped 2.3% to 5.9 million m³ or in other words the second-highest volume on record. With +20% compared to January 2018, the new year again saw a promising start.
