60% decrease in softwood lumber imports to the EU

Article by Günther Jauk (translated by Eva Guzely) | 25.09.2023 - 09:44

In the first half-year, the European Union did not import any softwood lumber from Russia and Belarus anymore. The 2.7 million m³ that previously came from the two countries were not compensated for by an increase in imports from other countries.

In the first six months of 2022, the EU imported 2.7 million m³ of softwood lumber from Russia (1.8 million m³) and Belarus (900,000 m³). At the time, these two countries thus accounted for over half of the total of 4.3 million m³ which were imported from non-EU countries.

In the same period of 2023, shipments from Russia and Belarus fell to zero due to the sanctions imposed by the EU. In the first six months, softwood lumber imports decreased by 2.6 million m³, bringing the total to only 1.7 million m³.

This shows that the EU did not even compensate for 5% of the volumes which had previously been bought from Russia and Belarus by turning to other supplying countries. In addition to the weakness of the EU’s construction sector, the abundant supply of domestic lumber and the resulting low demand on the global market, the weak trade relations with other countries which can supply the sought-after lumber qualities are also one of the reasons for this development. However, this might change in the future.

Data are collected and published by Eurostat.

Softwood lumber imports to the EU | H1 2017–2023
Country	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Imports from non-EU countries to the EU in 1,000 m³
Ukraine	600	1,000	800	600	700	600	600
Norway	300	300	300	400	300	400	500
New Zealand	200	100	300	0	200	100	200
Bosnia	100	100	100	100	100	100	200
Switzerland	300	100	100	100	100	100	100
Canada	100	100	100	200	100	200	0
Brazil	0	0	300	200	0	0	0
Russia	1,600	1,700	1,700	1,700	2,100	1,800	0
Belarus	900	1,300	1,700	1,600	1,500	900	0
Other countries	100	200	100	100	300	100	100
Total	4,100	4,800	5,300	4,800	5,400	4,300	1,700