Danubia Wood Trading

„Solidly grown“

Article by Philipp Matzku | 12.05.2021 - 08:29
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A strong team: the three managing directors of Danubia Wood Trading, Dr. Gernot Maier, Max Luger and Andreas Reiterer (from left). © Danubia Wood Trading

„We want to cover a large part of the wood trade with our broad product portfolio from logs to sawn timber as well as renewable combustibles (pelltes, briquettes, firewood) in various markets. In doing so, we take advantage of synergy effects in both purchasing and sales. Traditional wholesalers are often focused on one product and/or country only,“ explains Dr. Gernot Maier, one of the three managing directors of Danubia Wood Trading. Maier started the company in 2012 under the name GM Energy and Wood. At that time, the main business was trading in renewable heating materials. In 2016, Maier, together with the other two managing directors, Max Luger and Andreas Reiterer, changed the company‘s name to Danubia Wood Trading. „Entering the lumber trade was the next big step for us to expand our customer base and enter new markets,“ Reiterer explains. „Each of us has over 20 years of professional experience in the wood processing industry and we have a large network. Currently, Maier is responsible for logs, Reiterer for timber/WPC and Luger for renewable combustibles. One of our strengths is that we can help and support each other professionally and step in when needed,“ adds Luger.

Fuels such as pellets, briquettes and firewood are currently delivered to twelve European countries, always considering optimal transport solutions

Concentration on logs and timber

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7000 truck units of goods were transported in 2020 © Danubia Wood Trading

In 2017, WPC products were added to the portfolio, and a year later log trading was added. The main customer of both softwood and hardwood logs is the industry. Within Europe, most of the logs are sold to Austria. The rest is exported, mainly to Asia.
Softwood lumber is purchased, as with all other products, within Europe. „We buy from the large sawmills as well as from smaller and medium-sized sawmills and export the sawn timber mostly outside Europe. Purchases are made exclusively ex-works. „We want to keep the suppliers‘ expenses as low as possible and take care of all logistics, documentation and customs formalities. As a financially strong partner, we thus minimize the payment and default risk for all suppliers,“ emphasizes Luger.

Transport „across the water

„Our logistics partners gave us great support before and during the corona pandemic. We have strong partners we can rely on,“ Reiterer affirms. Danubia Wood usually picks up the goods from the supplier within one to two weeks by truck, rail or directly in a container, and then it continues on to the ship or directly to the customer.

From the beginning, Danubia Wood focused on products that are somewhat more difficult to sell, such as rejects grade. „However, we are buying all different grades and sizes a sawmill can offer. It is important for us to offer solutions that are implemented quickly, straightforwardly and reliably. In addition, we make our global network available to our suppliers,“ emphasizes Reiterer. In this way, around 7,000 truck units were transported across all product ranges last year.

Overseas office India

In January 2021, the trading company opened its first overseas office in Mumbai. „We are one of the most important timber suppliers, especially in the packaging sector in India,“ Maier informs. „The market has developed very well for us in the past three years, thanks to our long-standing local partner. With a joint sales office, we have the opportunity to expand our purchasing area as well as to ensure professional local support,“ adds Reiterer. „We can now make better use of synergies in document processing. In addition, we have the possibility to store goods in India to be able to react flexibly to market changes.“

„We have had solid growth so far, thanks to the great support of our employees. In 2020, we were able to achieve sales of around € 34 million and we want to continue to grow healthily. This has been made possible by the loyal and trusting cooperation with our long-standing suppliers, logistics companies, customers and all other business partners, many of whom have expressed their confidence in us from the very beginning,“ explain the owners.