International Softwood Conference 2020 goes digital
27 May 2020The European Timber Trade Federation (ETTF) and the European Organisation of the Sawmill Industry (EOS) have announced that the 68th International Softwood Conference (ISC), originally planned in Helsinki from October 6-9, will now take place digitally in a compact form on October 8 this year.
"The expanding Covid-19 outbreak, experienced in the last months in Europe, as in the rest of the globe, made us feel we should take responsibility and opt for a new ISC format,” said Silvia Melegari, secretary-general of EOS. He added that the Finnish Sawmill Association will be glad to host a physical ISC in 2021.
The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted trade and affected supply chains. It is not clear whether these actions are temporary, or if they will have a lasting impact and the digital ISC 2020 will give high level speakers the unique opportunity to discuss how the post Covid-19 timber market will look like.
The digital ISC conference will comprise a maximum of 4 hours, in which worldwide market reports and mainly forecasts will be presented. It is also planned to offer a report on the banking sector and the European construction industry. The digital ISC 2020 will be moderated by Keith Fryer.
"We see this digital ISC as an excellent opportunity to hold this important event even in the pandemic year and to report on the global softwood lumber markets,” said Thomas Goebel, secretary-general of ETTF. “A complete cancellation of the event would therefore have been out of the question for us.”
As every year, information about the registration for the digital conference 2020 will be available on the specially designed website as of summer this year.
