The overall economic situation in Germany remained tense in 2024. After the economy had already contracted in the previous year, GDP again recorded a decline of 0.2%. High energy and financing costs as well as subdued investment dampened growth. The situation also remained fragile in the first half of 2025: after a slight recovery in the first quarter, there was another decline in the second. Industrial production proved unstable, while growing export uncertainty and weak consumer sentiment added further pressure. Despite this difficult environment, the sawmill and timber industry succeeded in stabilising production and maintaining its strong position at home and abroad.
Between 2015 and 2021, companies had significantly increased their output. After two record years, production volumes fell for the first time in six years in 2022 – a trend that continued over the past two years, albeit with a much slower pace. In 2024, production of sawn softwood reached around 22.4 million m3 – a moderate decline of 2.3% compared with the previous year. This development reflects both the challenging market conditions and a gradual stabilisation of sales markets. Forward-looking production management helped to cushion rising costs.
Prices for construction-related assortments stabilised, and moderate price increases were achieved domestically. This trend has continued in the first half of 2025: with reduced sawing volumes, prices for sawn softwood are rising further.
Raw material supply became increasingly difficult in 2024. The high log availability of the calamity years continues to decline.
With 61.1 million m3, the harvest volume remained above the long-term average but was well below the record levels of previous years.
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