Norwegian forest owners’ co-operatives have seen a slump in demand of timber volumes, as well as a sharp decrease in import volumes.
In the first two months of 2009, the volume of timber purchased and sold by the co-operatives was just over 905,000m³ – a decrease of almost 270,000m³ or 23% compared with the same period last year.
The biggest decrease was in sawn timber, where purchases and sales to industry were only 230,000m³ – 35% less than in January and February last year.
Timber imports in the first two months of the year were 184,000m³, some 42% less than last year. Most of the imports come from Sweden.
