Cutting in Germany with a further decrease

Article by Martina Nöstler (translated by Eva Guzely) | 05.03.2026 - 12:01

Due to a combination of global uncertainties in sales, higher raw material costs and the limited availability of log wood, cutting in German sawmills was lower last year than it had been in 2024. Outlook for this year is mixed as well.

DE softwood cutting 2012-2026.jpg — © Timber-Online.net

In 2025, the annual cutting volume in German softwood sawmills that process over 50,000 m³ of log wood a year is estimated to have totaled around 28 million m³. This is according to a survey conducted by the Holzkurier (figures provided by the sawmills plus estimates). In 2024, around 29.9 million m³ of log wood were cut. Since 2024, several companies have disappeared from the map due to closures, for example, Ernst Fisch in Rüthen. The company will not rebuild the sawmill after the fire in 2024. HMS-Holz in Kleinwallstadt, and Franz Fabri and Theodor Schulte in Meschede also closed their mills in 2024. Meanwhile, Westerwälder Holzwerke in Langenbach is a new dot on the map.

Different developments

According to information provided by the companies, many achieved their 2025 target figures, while others recorded decreases in cutting. A comparison of the actual 2025 cutting volume with the previous year’s volume also reveals different developments among the individual sawmills. Of the companies that reported their figures, 32% reported reduced cutting in 2025, while 8% stated that they had increased cutting. At 60% of the sawmill, cutting remained stable.

There has been a change in the ranking of the largest individual sawmill sites following the acquisition of the Plößberg-Betzenmühle site by the Rettenmeier Group. According to information provided by the company itself, Ilim Nordic Timber now operates the largest single sawmill site in Wismar. In 2025, a total of 1.7 million m³ of log wood were cut there. Mercer Timber Products reported 1.45 million m³ for Saalburg-Ebersdorf last year. Binderholz completes the podium of the largest sawmill sites with a cutting volume of 1.4 million m³ in Baruth.

In 2025, the largest sawmill group in Germany was once again Binderholz, with a cumulative annual cutting volume of around 3.5 million m³ at its four sites in Baruth, Kösching, Oberrot and Wolfegg. Ilim Nordic Timber, i.e. Ilim Timber Bavaria with sawmills in Wismar and Landsberg, cut 2.55 million m³ of log wood in 2025. With the acquisition of the Ziegler sawmill in Plößberg-Betzenmühle, Rettenmeier Holzindustrie moved up to third place, with a total cutting volume of 2.3 million m³ at four sites. Since Plößberg has only been part of the Rettenmeier group since April 2025 the top three will change in 2026, as the target figures indicate. The Pfeifer Group is in fourth place with a cutting volume of 2.11 million m³ at three mills.

2026 target cutting stable

If you add the target cutting of the sawmills that have disclosed their target figures for 2026, to the cutting of those that have not, based on the 2025 figures, cutting could again total around 28 million m³ this year.

Softwood sawmills in the Datacube

The Holzkurier compiles annual data on the cutting volumes of all softwood sawmills in Austria and Germany. Only those companies with an annual cutting volume of over 50,000 m³ of log wood are included. This survey has been done for over 20 years now. The timeline of Austrian production figures goes all the way back to 2001. Since then, a wealth of detailed data has been collected that can be viewed in the “Production surveys” section of the Datacube.

Largest softwood sawmills in Germany | 2025/target 2026
Company	Location	Cutting 2024	Cutting 2025	Target cutting 2026	Staff	Further processing (m³/yr)	Drying (m³)
German softwood sawmills with an annual cutting volume of more than 50,000 m³ of log wood; cutting in 1,000 m³; further processing and drying volumes of the year 2025
ante-holz *	Somplar	940	800	n/a	n/a	solid structural timber, glulam, CLT, planed timber; spruce, pine, Douglas fir, larch; joining, "home and garden", pellets	n/a
ante-holz *	Rottleberode	980	950	n/a	n/a	solid structural timber, glulam, planed timber; spruce, pine, Douglas fir, larch; "home and garden", pellets	n/a
ante-holz *	Rötenbach	180	150	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Aurnhammer	Ellwangen	90	90	90	45	48,000	30,000
Holzwerk Baumann	Wangen im Allgäu	120	120	120	50	wooden packaging: 10,000, planed timber: 15,000	35,000
Holzwerk Baur	Wain	225	220	200	85	solid structural timber: 60,000, finger jointed up to a length of 14 m	200,000
Josef Baust Holzbetrieb	Eslohe	50	50	50	25	garden wood, pellets	15,000
Beckmann Holzwerk	Eslohe	90	80	80	30	solid structural timber	30,000
Bentheimer Holz	Bad Bentheim	160	160	160	48	––	––
Bentheimer Holz Mudau ¹	Mudau	90	90	90	38	––	––
best wood Schneider	Eberhardzell	130	130	130	n/a	solid structural timber, glulam, ceiling elements made of glulam and CLT	250,000
best wood Schneider	Meßkirch	280	300	300	n/a		250,000
Bien-Holz	Lauterbach	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	––	––
Bien-Holz	Uelzen	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	––	––
Binderholz	Kösching	900	900	900	n/a	n/a	n/a
Binderholz	Baruth	1,400	1,400	1,400	n/a	n/a	n/a
Binderholz	Oberrot	900	900	900	n/a	n/a	n/a
Binderholz	Wolfegg	300	300	300	n/a	n/a	n/a
Braun Holzwerk	Ühlingen-Birkendorf	105	105	105	n/a	n/a	n/a
Heinrich Bulthaup	Melle	75	95	95	19	n/a	n/a
Sägewerk Bürk	Seebach	50	50	50	18	Douglas fir: 15,000; packaging: 5,000	15,000
Eugen Decker	Morbach	250	250	250	160	solid structural timber/Duo/glulam: 100,000	n/a
Karl Decker	Hochscheid	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Dickel-Holz	Schmallenberg	100	100	100	30	solid structural timber: 30,000	30,000
Dölker Holzwerk	Horb	122	125	130	45	n/a	n/a
Dold Holzwerke	Buchenbach	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Egger Sägewerk Brilon ²	Brilon	782	704	n/a	240	540,000	540,000
Gebrüder Eigelshoven	Würselen	225	225	225	75	planed timber: 60,000, joining: 600,000 m/12,500 m³, impregnation: 8,000 m³	55,000
Elka-Holzwerke	Morbach	250	250	250	200	chipboards, esb, esb Plus, natural wood panels (spruce/Douglas fir)	65,000
Finkbeiner	Triberg	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
GELO Holzwerke	Weißenstadt	250	250	250	110	solid structural timber/solid structural timber acc. to list (spruce/pine/Douglas fir): 70,000; planed timber (spruce/pine/Douglas fir/larch/Sib. larch): 60,000; joining/planning of joinery services; Zarelo lighter; IPPC treatment	100,000
GELO Timber	Wunsiedel	330	330	330	36	IPPC treatment, cut-to-size lumber for pallets, automated quality sorting	180,000
Sägewerk Hagenah	Bülkau	80	65	70	55	15,000	12,000
Heinrich Harling	Bergen-Eversen	100	110	150	70	planed timber: 15,000 (pine/spruce/larch/Douglas fir), boiler pressure impregnation acc. to NTR	20,000
Holzindustrie Hassel	Stockum-Püschen	120	100	100	60	40,000; pellets: 40,000 t	40,000
Hermes Holz	Stadtkyll	250	250	250	50	planed timber: 50,000	50,000
HILO - Holzindustrie Losheim	Losheim/Eifel	250	300	300	110	planing, IPPC, KD, dip impregnation and boiler-pressure impregnation, standard and special pallets - spruce, fir, Douglas fir, pine, larch; pellets: 120,000 t	100,000
Hirschbach	Sulzbach-Laufen	200	210	230	75	6,000	76,000
HIH Holzindustrie Hagenow	Hagenow	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Heinrich Holtmeyer & Sohn	Ottersberg	132	130	130	50	planed timber: 25,000, pellets: 45,000 t	30,000
Gebrüder Hosenfeld	Hosenfeld	130	140	150	50	planed timber, specilizing in larch/Douglas fir/pine, pellets	n/a
HS Timber Productions ³	Kodersdorf	1,200	1,200	1,200	520	planed timber: 430,000, Leimholz (posts & beams): 114,000, pellets: 198,000 t	710,000
Hüster	Warstein	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
I.B.H. Sägewerk ⁴	Harperscheid	300	300	300	50	––	––
Ilim Nordic Timber (INT)	Wismar	1,700	1,700	1,700	650	n/a	n/a
Ilim Timber Bavaria (ITB)	Landsberg am Lech	850	850	850	270	n/a	n/a
Hermann Keller	Achern	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
KellerHolz	Lichtenau-Scherzheim	135	135	135	58	n/a	n/a
Johann Kirchhoff (Joki)	Finnentrop	130	105	100	51	25,000	28,000
Kolb Sägewerk	Ruppertshofen	70	80	80	22	n/a	45,000
Aloysius Krenzer	Poppenhausen-Abtsroda	60	60	60	n/a	n/a	n/a
Aloysius Krenzer	Biebergemünd	190	190	190	n/a	n/a	n/a
Aloysius Krenzer	Dorndorf	200	200	200	n/a	n/a	n/a
Künzel-Holz	Issigau	155	125	155	46	n/a	70,000
Holzwerke Ladenburger ⁵	Kerkingen	1,000	1,000	1,000	750	n/a	n/a
Mercer Timber Products	Saalburg-Ebersdorf	1,400	1,450	1,350	450	600,000	810,000
Mercer Torgau	Torgau	900	1,000	900	720	500,000	450,000
Holz Otto	Waldkappel	80	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Pauls Holz Zingsheim ⁶	Zingsheim	100	100	100	15	n/a	n/a
Pfeifer Holz	Lauterbach	920	880	880	220	n/a	650,000
Pfeifer Holz	Uelzen	380	380	380	110	n/a
Pfeifer Holz	Unterbernbach	850	850	850	250	n/a
Pfeifle Holz	Seewald-Schorrental	68	69	69	30	n/a	n/a
Pieper Holz	Olsberg-Assinghausen	260	230	250	165	garden wood/garden furniture, play structures; 20,000 (spruce/larch/Douglas fir), IPPC, boiler-pressure and dip impregnation, planed timber, pellets: 100,000 t	100,000
Sägewerk Poschenrieder	Grünenbach	50	90	100	30	15,000	40,000
Holz Centrum Regensburg	Wenzenbach	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Rettenmeier Holzindustrie ⁷	Ramstein	2,000	2,300	3,200	1,400	solid structural timber, glulam; spruce, pine, Douglas fir, larch; pellets	2,200,000
Rettenmeier Holzindustrie	Wilburgstetten
Rettenmeier Holzindustrie	Hirschberg
Rettenmeier Holzindustrie	Plößberg-Betzenmühle	1,720
Holzwerke Riedlinger	Singen-Bohlingen	105	105	105	30	5,000; ISPN-15	n/a
Robeta Holz	Milmersdorf	230	230	230	160	35,000	65,000
Sägewerk Friedrich Rothmund	Klettgau	65	65	65	12	n/a	n/a
Holz Ruser	Bornhöved	206	196	205	115	solid structural timber: 33,000; planed timber: 50,000	100,000
Holz Schiller ⁸	Regen	110	105	105	245	n/a	n/a
Holzwerk Schilling	Rot an der Rot	250	200	250	70	7,000	37,500
Holz Schmidt	Cölbe-Schönstadt	105	70	70	100	solid structural timber, planed timber: 150,000	90,000
Schwaiger Holzindustrie	Hengersberg	1,300	1,180	1,250	295	planed timber: 400,000; pellets: 320,000 t	700,000
Sägewerk Schwarzmühle	Schwarzatal	65	58	50	16	n/a	n/a
Schwörer Haus ⁹	Hohenstein-Oberstetten	200	200	200	1,300	solid structural timber, glulam,Duo/Trio/ Quattro beams, Three-layer panels: 150,000; prefabricated houses	130,000
Karl Streit ¹⁰	Hausach	365	320	360	100	planed timber, slats: 50,000	85,000
SWL	Kollerbeck	50	50	40	13	n/a	n/a
HWW Holzwerke	Waal	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Holzwerke van Roje	Oberhonnefeld	270	270	250	220	90,000	125,000
E.A. Vehmeyer	Haselünne	110	100	110	42	1,500	16,000
Vente-Holz	Finnentrop	120	90	90	85	solid structural timber/ Duo/Trio/glulam: spruce/larch	70,000
Holzwerke Weinzierl	Vilshofen	650	650	650	135	n/a	360,000
Westerwälder Holzwerke	Langenbach	–	145	150	80	n/a	n/a
Josef Ziegler	Plößberg-Stein	250	250	250	80	planed timber: 10,000, solid structural timber: 15,000	50,000

Source: All figures and information in the table have been provided by the companies (unless otherwise indicated). The table is not exhaustive. * Holzkurier estimate based on figures from the previous year. Printing and typesetting errors excepted. 1) Bentheimer Holz Mudau (formerly Schröpfer sawmill) has been part of Bentheimer Holz since January 2023; 2) Egger: drying and processing volumes refer to capacities; 3) HS Timber: volumes refer to capacities; 4) Sägewerk I.B.V, Vielsalm/BE: cutting 810,000 m³/yr; employees: 260 (incl. two power plants); planing mill: 150,000 m³/yr; pellet mill: 400,000 t; drying: 500,000 m³/yr; 5) Holzwerke Ladenburger: number of staff of the entire company; 6) Pauls Holz Zingheim: purchasing, sales and administration at the headquarters in St. Vith/BE; 7) Rettenmeier Holzindustrie: drying volume refers to capacity; the Plößberg-Betzenmühle site has been part of the Rettenmeier group since April 2025; 8) Holz Schiller: cutting in CZ: around 40,000 m³/yr; 9) Schwörer Haus: number of employees of the entire company; 10) Karl Streit: reduced cutting in 2025 due to plant upgrade | © Holzkurier 2026