In the first six months of 2024, Japan imported around 1.85 million m³ of softwood lumber. Last year (1.5 million m³) was the only time since 1998 that the country bought an even smaller volume foreign softwood lumber. As a look in the Datacube shows, the total import volume was more than twice as big ten years ago. In the years before the financial crisis of 2008, Japan even imported well over 4 million m³ in the first six months.
A similar development can be observed in the Japanese residential construction sector. Housing construction starts are currently at the lowest level since 2011.
As for lumber, though, the market is slowly recovering this year. With the exception of Chile (75,000 m³; -10%), all of the main supplying countries recorded increases in their shipments. Canada saw its deliveries grow by 36% to 460,000 m³. For Sweden (370,000 m³; +36%) and Finland (290,000 m³; +5%), too, it was a positive first half-year.
As figures published by Statistics of Japan show, a double-digit increase of 12% to 260,000 m³ was recorded in softwood lumber imports from Russia. Germany (64,000 m³) and Romania (67,000 m³) even doubled their volumes compared to last year, while Austria delivered around 80,000 m³ to Japan, just like last year.
Clear all
