After a difficult year of 2023, marked by a dramatic decline in consumption, the parquet market appears to have bottomed out in 2024. European parquet consumption continued to decrease, but at a slower pace. According to the European Parquet Federation (FEP), this is the result of the still subdued construction activity and increasing pressure due to Chinese imports. Due to the weakened purchasing power of consumers, many consumers tended towards cheaper alternatives (imitation wood flooring) and cheap Chinese parquet. Since the end of October 2024, imports of parquet products from China have been subject to customs registration. Since then, increased flows of multi-layer parquet from China into the EU market have been observed – possibly with the aim of building up stocks before the imposition of anti-dumping measures. However, these imports could be subject to retroactive application of anti-dumping duties.
In 2024, parquet production in the FEP region fell by 5.3% year on year to 51.5 million m². European production outside the FEP’s member countries was estimated at 10.7 million m² last year. Total parquet production in Europe (FEP plus non-FEP countries) decreased by 3.9% to 62.2 million m². This was also the lowest production output since the 2000s. Alongside 2007 (98.6 million m²), 2021 marked the absolute peak year: At that time, according to the FEP, just under 97.2 million m² were produced in Europe. Since then, production has decreased by 36%.
In terms of absolute production figures by country, Poland stayed in first place with a stable 19.7%. Austria ranked second (as before) with 15.5%, and Sweden was in third place (10.7%), followed by Italy and Germany.
Austria ranks second in per-capita consumption
The association reports a parquet consumption of 59.3 million m² in the FEP region for 2024 and thus a 4.5% decrease compared to the previous year. In 2021, consumption totaled 89.6 million m². In terms of demand for parquet, Germany further consolidated its leading position to 22.1%. As in 2023, Italy (12%) and Sweden (9.6%) complete the podium. As for per-capita parquet consumption, Switzerland (0.62 m²), Austria (0.54 m²), and Sweden (0.53 m²) lead in the ranking. Across the entire FEP region, consumption per inhabitant remained stable at 0.14 m² in 2024, as the Federation reports.
There was hardly any change in the types of parquet produced: Multi-layered parquet remained by far the most common type, with a share of 83% (2023: 84%). Solid parquet accounted for 15% of the production output, followed by mosaic parquet (2%). In terms of wood species used, it is evident that the share of oak parquet increased slightly to 83.8% (2023: 83%). Ash and beech remain the other most frequently chosen wood species, with respective shares of 4.2% and 2.5%. Tropical woods remained stable at 1.9%.
The parquet sector forecasts an upturn in construction activity over the course of this year. Furthermore, much-needed relief is expected in the short term from the European Commission’s provisional anti-dumping measures, which came into force on January 16 and target imports of multi-layer parquet from China. The Federation and EU parquet manufacturers will continue to actively cooperate with the Commission’s investigation team on the remaining stages of this procedure until its official conclusion in the summer.
