From January to March, Italy imported 924,000 m³ of softwood sawn and planed timber which corresponds to a 7% decrease year on year. While imports were nearly on last year’s level in the first two months, they saw a sharp decline in March due to the corona pandemic. According to Eurostat, imports fell by 15% from more than 353,000 m³ to around 300,000 m³ in that month.
Two thirds of softwood sawn timber imports came from Austria and Germany. In the first quarter, 488,000 m³ (-3%) were bought from Austria and 114,000 m³ (+1%) from Germany. Imports from all other supplying countries saw marked decreases, e.g. those from Ukraine and the Czech Republic which fell by 13% to 48,000 m³ and by 15% to 43,000 m³, respectively.
As always, you can find detailed figures in our Datacube in the section Foreign trade.
Italy softwood sawn timber imports incl. planed timber January to March 2020
| Country | 2020 | 2019 | Change in % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 488,632 | 502,287 | -2.7 |
| Germany | 114,257 | 113,105 | 1 |
| Ukraine | 48,355 | 55,721 | -13.2 |
| Czech Republic | 42,818 | 50,341 | -14.9 |
| Slovakia | 34,260 | 34,725 | -1.3 |
| Finland | 33,350 | 38,139 | -12.6 |
| Poland | 29,298 | 33,982 | -13.8 |
| Russia | 22,176 | 24,618 | -9.9 |
| Slovenia | 21,268 | 28,852 | -26.3 |
| Switzerland | 19,441 | 22,629 | -14.1 |
| Other countries | 70,438 | 88,481 | -20.4 |
| Total | 924,293 | 992,880 | -6.9 |
