The latest Timber Trade Federation (TTF) statistics reveal that solid wood imports continued their decline into April and panel products kept up their growth trend.
Total timber and panel product imports were down 6% in the four months to April, with solid wood down 12.9% and panels up 10.4%.
Overall import volumes hit 2.42 million m³, compared to 2.58 million m³ a year ago. April was the fifth consecutive month that import volume was lower than the corresponding month of the previous year.
In softwood, Sweden has recovered 3% market share and had 48% of the UK softwood import market by the end of April. Finland and Latvia were steady at 13% and 12% respectively, while Germany and Ireland both dropped 1% to 8% and 6% respectively.
The cumulative softwood import volume stood at 1.44 million m³ (2010: 1.64 million m³).
Hardwood volumes also declined, with volume standing at 130,000m³ for the period (2010: 162,000m³). Lower than average declines in volumes from the US, Germany, France and Cameroon resulted in slight upward shifts in their market share. But Italy’s volumes jumped 4% to 9%.
Plywood imports are up 17.9% to 420,000m³ (2010: 357,000m³), with Chinese imports growing by 50% during the period to give a 45% share of the market. Malaysia reduced 10% to 14% and Finland and Russia both grew 1% to 10% and 7% respectively.
