And despite concerns over industry log availability and several mills being under bank control, London Softwood Club guest speaker Carsten Kullik told club members that he thought the large exporting mills were likely to secure their future.
Mr Kullik was representing his Germany-based international timber agency Kullik & Rullmann, which last year acquired Newcastle-based Gill & Robinson to become a "German-British agency".
He told traders that Germany’s sawmill production was forecast to increase slightly in 2013, but would still be well below the peak years.
"The situation in Japan has developed in the last three months and it is going to be, for a while, a good place to sell timber.
"In the US, the 2×4 composite price was €130 delivered. But that has increased to €220 ex-mill in the last eight weeks. North American prices are higher every day."
The US market was recovering and the big German sawmillers were already shipping to the US, he said.
"The German sawmills need to get the high prices and they are getting it in the US and Japan."
Mr Kullik said German domestic demand had also picked up.
"When combined with the export situation, this makes the whole mood of the industry in Germany very good at the moment. So I think the sawmill industry can get out of the disastrous situation that it had got into in the last five to six years," he said.
When asked by traders about the viability of the large mills, Mr Kullik said two mills were currently under bank control.
He said some prospective buyers were interested in buying one of these, while the other planned to look for a buyer in 2015.
"I do not think the sawmills will close – not the big players," he added.
