From January to May, Swedish softwood lumber exports (incl. planed timber) decreased by 8% year on year to 5.5 million m³. This is the smallest export volume since 2019, when the exact same volume was exported, as figures published by Statistics Sweden show.
Great Britain remains Sweden’s most important trading partner, accounting for 20% of total Swedish exports. In the first five months, deliveries there were down by 6%, totaling 1.1 million m³. Exports to the Netherlands, on the other hand, remained stable compared to 2025 (-1% to 499,000 m³). A total of 914,000 m³ (-12%) of Swedish softwood lumber was shipped to the MENA region that is traditionally a major market for Scandinavian softwood lumber. Partly marked decreases were recorded in exports to Egypt (-4% to 423,000 m³), Morocco (-32% to 123,000 m³), Saudi Arabia (-33% to 77,000 m³), Tunisia (-16% to 28,000 m³) and Israel (-41% to 19,000 m³). Meanwhile, a stable volume was sold to Algeria (-1% to 172,000 m³), and Libya received slightly more softwood lumber from Sweden (+6% to 50,000 m³).
Exports to Germany increased by 18% to 386,000 m³. Sweden also exported significantly more softwood lumber to Austria (+56% to 30,000 m³) than in 2025.
A downward trend can be observed in deliveries to Denmark (-10% to 356,000 m³), the USA (-44% to 326,000 m³), Norway (-8% to 288,000 m³) and Japan (-23% to 268,000 m³). Last year, the US accounted for 10% of total Swedish exports. This year, this share has dropped to 6%.
Sweden exported more softwood lumber to Poland (+17% to 230,000 m³) and France (+5% to 174,000 m³). At 75,000 m³ (+27%), exports to Spain reached the highest level since 2011 (87,000 m³).
In the Datacube, you can find more detailed figures on Sweden’s softwood lumber exports.
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