Datacube users know that 2007 was the best year for bilateral trade. In the full year, Austria exported 4.6 million m³ to Italy. In the first three quarters, exports amounted to about 3.4 million m³.
Austrian exports to Italy are the biggest trade flow in Europe, followed by Swedish exports to Great Britain which remained at a constant 1.9 million m³ compared to the previous year.
In the first three quarters, Great Britain bought significant amounts of sawn timber. With imports of 4.2 million m³, the country became the world’s third biggest importing country – ex aequo with Japan. Germany and Italy rank second and third, respectively, among European importing countries. Both imported about 3.5 million m³ in the first nine months of 2019.
Despite decreases in exports, Canada remains the number one in global trade with an overall export of 29.6 million m³. Russia exported nearly 24 million m³ in nine months, of which almost 15 million m³ were sold to China.
When it comes to importing countries, China has become almost as big as the US. According to data gathered by Timber-Online, China imported 23 million m³ in the first nine months and the US nearly 26 million m³.
If the trends of 2019 continue in 2020, China could become the biggest importing country and Russia the biggest exporter of softwood sawn timber.
| Trade flows incl. planed timber | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N. | Exporter | Importer | January – September | Diff. in % | |
| 2018 | 2019 | ||||
| 1. | Canada | USA | 24,678 | 23,500 | –5 |
| 2. | Russis | China | 12,872 | 14,645 | 14 |
| 3. | Canada | China | 3,540 | 3,746 | 6 |
| 4. | Austria | Italy | 1,957 | 1,990 | 2 |
| 5. | Sweden | Great Britain | 1,927 | 1,932 | 0,3 |
| 6. | Russia | Uzbekistan | 1,965 | 1,810 | –8 |
| 7. | Canada | Japan | 1,715 | 1,371 | –20 |
| 8. | Finland | Egypt | 969 | 1,156 | 19 |
| 9. | Belgium | France | 810 | 1,087 | 34 |
| 10. | Sweden | Egypt | 654 | 1,059 | 62 |
| 11. | Czech Republic | Austria | 879 | 996 | 13 |
| 12. | Finland | China | 790 | 978 | 24 |
| 13. | Russia | Egypt | 929 | 901 | –3 |
| 14. | Latvia | Great Britain | 847 | 859 | 1 |
| 15. | Austria | Germany | 778 | 821 | 5 |
| 16. | Germany | USA | 716 | 798 | 11 |
| 17. | Russia | Japan | 650 | 747 | 15 |
| 18. | Brazil | USA | 680 | 690 | 1 |
| 19. | Germany | Austria | 675 | 689 | 2 |
| 20. | Finland | Japan | 681 | 671 | –1 |
| Table of softwood sawn timber trade flows from the 15 biggest exporting countries to the 15 biggest importing countries as well as to the Levant region (volumes in 1,000 m³). National statistics on sawn timber exports in 2019 were used as sources (as of December 2019). | |||||||||||||||||||
| 15 biggest importing countries | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
15 biggest exporting countries |
Country | Total | 1. USA | 2.China | 3. Great Britain | 4. Japan | 5. Germany | 6. Italy | 7. Egypt | 8. France | 9. Netherlands | 10. Austria | 11. Uzbekistan | 12. Saudi Arabia | 13. South Korea | 14. Belgium | 15. Mexico | Other countries | Levant |
| 1. Canada | 29,664 | 23,500 | 3,746 | 30 | 1,371 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 126 | 37 | 66 | 728 | 66 | |
| 2. Russia | 23,789 | 22 | 14,645 | 247 | 747 | 414 | 84 | 901 | 193 | 240 | 90 | 1,810 | 29 | 294 | 97 | 0 | 3,976 | 1,735 | |
| 3. Sweden | 9,419 | 342 | 560 | 1,932 | 532 | 540 | 45 | 1,059 | 235 | 665 | 32 | 0 | 222 | 67 | 210 | 0 | 2,975 | 2,097 | |
| 4. Finland | 6,769 | 27 | 978 | 653 | 671 | 375 | 107 | 1,156 | 353 | 168 | 107 | 0 | 341 | 36 | 72 | 0 | 1,727 | 2,323 | |
| 5. Germany | 6,559 | 798 | 583 | 416 | 81 | – | 376 | 11 | 628 | 639 | 689 | 0 | 53 | 121 | 523 | 2 | 1,641 | 386 | |
| 6. Austria | 4,582 | 138 | 52 | 42 | 233 | 821 | 1,990 | 9 | 48 | 2 | – | 0 | 77 | 34 | 5 | 1 | 1,129 | 697 | |
| 7. Belarus | 3,006 | 0 | 185 | 16 | 3 | 463 | 59 | 0 | 20 | 168 | 3 | 18 | 0.05 | 0 | 172 | 0 | 1,900 | 21 | |
| 8. Czech Republic | 2,756 | 42 | 14 | 29 | 93 | 376 | 603 | 0.002 | 1 | 12 | 996 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 565 | 8 | |
| 9. Chile | 2,346 | 134 | 527 | 1 | 230 | 0.004 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 181 | 377 | 0 | 195 | 700 | 303 | |
| 10. USA | 2,334 | – | 224 | 12 | 168 | 17 | 11 | 19 | 4 | 12 | 0.03 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 487 | 1,375 | 39 | |
| 11. Belgium | 2,328 | 10 | 107 | 35 | 0.4 | 230 | 1 | 8 | 1,087 | 505 | 1 | 0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 344 | 82 | ||
| 12. Latvia | 2,235 | 18 | 112 | 859 | 85 | 102 | 15 | 141 | 66 | 106 | 14 | 0 | 13 | 134 | 36 | 0 | 534 | 234 | |
| 13. Ukraine | 2,167 | 2 | 529 | 7 | 14 | 134 | 157 | 5 | 2 | 35 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 51 | 32 | 0 | 1,185 | 135 | |
| 14. Brazil | 2,131 | 690 | 301 | 0.5 | 1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0 | 2 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 197 | 34 | 1 | 426 | 479 | 333 | |
| 15. New Zealand | 1,326 | 155 | 360 | 3 | 51 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0.2 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 59 | 9 | 3 | 610 | 54 | |
| Total | 101,412 | 25,878 | 22,921 | 4,283 | 4,281 | 3,483 | 3,454 | 3,309 | 2,647 | 2,597 | 1,941 | 1,829 | 1,190 | 1,351 | 1,199 | 1,180 | 19,869 | 8,513 | |
