Irish sawmilling boss Mike Glennon has given an impassioned speech at the London Softwood Club, highlighting the benefits of the Anglo-Irish softwood trade.
Mr Glennon, joint managing director of Glennon Brothers, spoke to an audience of 90 people – the second highest on record for such a meeting.
He said Ireland’s sawn timber exports to the UK were worth €63m in 2010, a growth of 24% on the previous year. He said product from Glennon Brothers made up about nearly 30% of that.
In the past four years, Ireland has grown its share of the UK sawn softwood market by more than 50% to 6% of the total market.
However, Mr Glennon said the Irish sawmilling sector was facing a challenge from production overcapacity in excess of 400,000m³ of logs per year and that by 2020 demand for logs in Ireland would still outstrip supply.
“In our view it is inevitable that not all the existing players will survive in the short to medium term,” he said.
Mr Glennon said Irish sawmillers had been diversifying their exports in recent years, with Glennon Brothers recently shipping its first two containers to the Chinese market.
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