It seems to have been a betwixt and between year trading-wise for the timber industry. Prices rose across the board and some said that they hadn’t enjoyed such a good return for decades. The downside was supply, or rather the lack of it. It was an international issue, with one distributor at the Carrefour show in France saying that, if anyone turned up with a pack of hardwood, they’d be killed in the rush of buyers.

On the softwood front sources say that continuing shortages are likely to produce a UK market shift in 2007, with Canadian structural timber making a major comeback.

There are also supply-side concerns in sheet materials. With the government effectively subsidising the ‘green energy’ sector, wood panel makers are worried that operators of timber-fuelled power plants will price them out of the market for fibre.

But the increasing environmental awareness of politicians and public has an upside for wood too. It plays to the advantage of timber building in particular. And anecdotal evidence indicates that demand for ‘green’, healthy and natural living and work environments is increasingly driving consumption of timber flooring and joinery too.

This year must also rank as one of the most active ever for UK timber promotion. Wood for Good continued its generic marketing campaign, and announced new funding to take its work forward. We’ve also had the launch of Wood for Gold, the cross-industry initiative to secure timber’s share of business at the London Olympics. In addition, 2006 had a range of showcase events for the industry: the Ecobuild show, the Timber Zone at Interbuild, The Timber Show and a record-breaking Wood Awards, the annual contest for the use of timber in construction which this year had 206 entries.

There will be more on timber marketing in a special feature in our first edition of 2007. We should also soon be in a position to announce exciting news for our own promotional event for the trade, the TTJ Awards, which itself broke records for attendance in 2006.

So watch this space in 2007 – and have a happy Christmas and prosperous new year!