Decreasing softwood lumber exports

Article by Martina Nöstler (translated by Eva Guzely) | 18.04.2025 - 10:28

At the beginning of this year, Germany increased its deliveries to the US, the Netherlands and Canada, whereas substantially smaller volumes were exported to other countries. In the first two months, exports saw a double-digit decrease compared to last year.

In January and February 2025, Germany exported a total of 1.35 million m³ of softwood lumber (incl. planed timber). Year on year, this corresponds to a 14% decrease, as figures published by Destatis show. As is the case with softwood log exports, a smaller export volume was last recorded in 2018 (1.29 million m³).

Softwood lumber exports to the US increased by 7% to 401,000 m³. Deliveries to Netherlands were up by 5% and amounted to 116,000 m³. Exports to Canada even doubled compared to 2024 (50,000 m³; +111%).

However, these increases were not enough to offset decreases in other foreign markets, such as Austria (117,000 m³; -23%), France (11,000 m³; -13%) or Italy (88,000 m³; -16%).

As always, you can find more detailed figures on German softwood lumber exports in our Datacube.