Germany

5% higher cutting volume

Germany's biggest sawmills, target figures for 2019

Article by Martina Nöstler, translated by Susanne Höfler | 26.03.2019 - 14:29

German softwood sawmills with an annual cutting capacity of more than 50,000 sm³ almost realized their targets: According to information provided by the sawmills, the cutting volume of 2018 amounted to over 28.6 million sm³.

Last year, companies indicated a planned total of almost 28.9 million sm³ in the course of the Timber-Online survey. The total cutting volume of 2018 was more than 5% higher than 2017's level. What is noteworthy is that many of the sawmills listed in the table below were able to increase or at least maintain the cutting volumes of 2017. Only a few companies reported that they were not able to reach the level of 2017.

One third of the total

Germany's biggest sawmill group of 2018 was Binderholz/Klenk Holz with a total cutting volume of 3.36 million sm³ at their four locations in Kösching (Binderholz) as well as Baruth, Oberrot and Wolfegg (Klenk Holz). The Ilim Group came close to the 3 million sm³ mark: According to company information, the group's cutting volume reached 2.92 million sm³. By the way: The Wismar site of the Russian sawmill group was last year's biggest single site in Germany with a volume of 1.86 million sm³. The Pfeifer Holz group registered a cutting volume of 2.22 million sm³ at its three sites in Lauterbach, Uelzen and Unterbernbach.

In other words: The three biggest sawmill groups in Germany with regard to volume together cut 8.5 million sm³ or one third of the total reported volume.

Six other companies realized a cutting volume in the seven-digit range last year: Ziegler Holzindustrie, Rettenmeier Holzindustrie, ante-holz, Mercer Timber Products, Schwaiger and Holzindustrie Torgau. The cutting volume of these nine sawmills or groups together totaled 20 million sm³ in 2018. This is almost 70% of the surveyed volume.

Positive trend

What is particularly positive: Since 2014, the cutting trend has clearly been pointing upwards. Five years ago, total cuttings were still below 23 million sm³. Companies have been annually raising cutting volumes ever since.

For 2019, German sawmills plan yet another increase: This year's target volume is 29.7 million sm³ (Note: For companies that did not report any target figures, the calculation of the cutting volume is based on the figures of 2018). This would entail another increase by 3.7% or around 1.1 million sm³.

Especially ante-holz from Bromskirchen and Mercer in Saalburg-Ebersdorf want to boost cuttings in the current year: These two locations plan to add 150,000 sm³ to the volumes of 2018. Only time will tell how ambitious these planned cutting volumes are. The sawmills are looking at satisfying roundwood supply levels. As for sales, market developments like for instance the Brexit or sales to Asia and the US remain to be seen.

Sawmill industry Germany | 2018/Target 2019
Enterprise	Location	Cutting 2017 (1,000 sm³)	Cutting 2018 (1,000 sm³)	Cutting Target 2019 (1,000 sm³)	Employees	Further processing (m³/yr)	Drying (m³)
Softwood sawmills with more than 50,000 sm³ annual cutting volume in Germany
ante-holz	Bromskirchen-Somplar	700	800	950	n/s	KVH, glulam, PG: 500,000; spruce, Douglas fir, joining, GT, pellets	550,000
ante-holz	Rottleberode	700	850	900	n/s	KVH, PG; 300,000; spruce, pine, larch, Douglas fir, joining, GT, pellets	500,000
Aurnhammer	Ellwangen	90	90	90	43	48,000	30,000
Holzwerk Baumann	Wangen	100	110	120	50	Wood packaging: 10,000, PG: 10,000	30,000
Holzwerk Baur	Wain	195	180	210	85	KVH: 60,000, finger-jointed up to 14 m, as listed	90,000
Baust Holzbetrieb	Eslohe	50	50	50	25	GT, pellets	15,000
Beckmann Holzwerk	Eslohe	80	80	80	30	KVH as listed: 15,000; pressure impregnation, PG	15,000
Bentheimer Holz	Bad Bentheim	133	132	135	45	––	––
Bien-Holz	Lauterbach	282	280	280	55	––	––
Bien-Holz	Uelzen	301	260	275	55	––	––
Binderholz Deutschland	Kösching	950	1,000	1,050	n/s	PG: 250,000	520,000
Braun Holzwerk	Ühlingen-Birkendorf	50	60	65	n/s	n/s	n/s
Heinrich Bulthaup	Melle	81.5	80	80	19	n/s	12,500
Eugen Decker	Morbach	250	250	250	160	KVH/Duo/glulam: 100,000	n/s
Karl Decker	Hochscheid	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Dickel-Holz	Schmallenberg	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Dölker Holzwerk	Horb	140	140	140	50	n/s	20,000
Dold Holzwerke	Buchenbach	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Egger Sägewerk Brilon (2)	Brilon	755	900	n/s	199	400,000	400,000
Gebrüder Eigelshoven	Würselen	197	209	210	65	PG, I, joining; 60,000	45,000
Elka Holzwerke	Morbach	n/s	200	200	200	Wood materials, chip and natural wood panels: 165,000	80,000
Franz Fabri	Meschede-Grevenstein	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Finkbeiner	Triberg	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Ernst Fisch	Rüthen	200	205	205	65	n/s	50,000
GELO Holzwerke	Weißenstadt	250	250	250	90	KVH/KVH as listed (spruce/Douglas fir/pine): 70,000;	100,000
Geyer Holz	Stein an der Traun	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Sägewerk Hagenah	Bülkau	85	85	85	60	PG: 15,000	12,000
Heinrich Harling	Bergen-Eversen	80	80	80	65	15,000 PG, MH-Fix/Plus, KDI, packagings, joining service	20,000
Holzindustrie Hassel	Stockum-Püschen	100	110	110	23	45,000	50,000
Hermes Holz	Stadtkyll	250	250	250	50	PG: 50,000, battens, impregnation green, S10 floorboards red	50,000
HILO-Holz	Losheim (Eifel)	200	210	210	50	50,000	40,000
Hirschbach (1)	Sulzbach-Laufen	178	178	180	70	680	60,000
HIT Torgau (3)	Torgau	1,062	1,000	1,100	639	599,000	585,000
HMS-Holz Gruppe	Hagenow	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
HMS-Holz Gruppe	Kleinwallstadt	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Heinrich Holtmeyer & Sohn	Ottersberg	100	98	100	42	10,000	13,000
Gebrüder Hosenfeld	Hosenfeld	100	120	120	50		n/s
Hüster	Warstein	160	170	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
I.B.H. Sägewerk (1, 4)	Harperscheid	250	250	250	50	––	––
Ilim Timber Bavaria (ITB)	Landsberg am Lech	1,030	1,060	n/s	200	455,000	455,000
Ilim Nordic Timber (INT)	Wismar	1,880	1,860	n/s	400	740,000	740,000
Hermann Keller	Achern	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Keller-Holz (5)	Lichtenau-Scherzheim	120	120	130	45	PG: 10,000	10,000
Johann Kirchhoff (Joki)	Finnentrop	140	140	140	41	40,000	42,000
Klenk Holz AG (6)	Baruth	2,060	1,280	1,350	n/s	412,000	624,000
Klenk Holz AG (6)	Oberrot		838	880		376,000	418,000
Klenk Holz AG (6)	Wolfegg		238	254		86,400	108,000
Sägewerk Koch	Langenbach	80	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Aloysius Krenzer	Poppenhausen-Abtsroda	50	50	50	n/s	n/s	n/s
Aloysius Krenzer	Biebergemünd	170	170	180
Aloysius Krenzer	Dorndorf	200	200	220
Künzel Holz	Issigau	165	170	170	50	n/s	52,000
Holzwerke Ladenburger	Kerkingen	850	800	850	n/s	n/s	n/s
Mercer Timber Products	Saalburg-Ebersdorf	1,130	1,200	1,350	330	360,000	720,000
Holz Otto	Waldkappel	120	120	120	55	KVH, laminated timber, joining: 25,000	70,000
Pfeifer Holz	Lauterbach	800	950	980	230	n/s	650,000
Pfeifer Holz	Uelzen	490	490	490	140	n/s
Pfeifer Holz	Unterbernbach	730	780	780	250	n/s
Pfeifle Holz	Seewald-Schorrental	62	62	62	n/s	n/s	n/s
Pieper Holz	Olsberg-Assinghausen	280	300	315	120	GT/garden furniture, play facilities; 20,000 (spruce/larch/Douglas fir), IPPC, pressure and bath impregnation, PG	120,000
Sägewerk Poschenrieder	Grünenbach	55	55	65	19	12,000	28,000
Holz Centrum Regensburg	Wenzenbach-Gonnersdorf	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Rettenmeier Holzindustrie	Ramstein	1,800	1,800	1,800	850	n/s	n/s
Rettenmeier Holzindustrie	Wilburgstetten
Rettenmeier Holzindustrie	Hirschberg
Holzwerke Riedlinger	Singen-Bohlingen	90	100	100	30	Wood packaging: 5,000	n/s
Robeta Holz	Milmersdorf	300	300	300	160	40,000	60,000
Sägewerk Rothmund	Klettgau	57	65	70	10	n/s	20,000
Holz Ruser	Bornhöved	191	200	200	125	KVH: 53,000; PG: 20,000, joining	80,000
Holz Schiller (7)	Regen	120	120	120	230	70,000: knot-free laminated timber & window, facade and front door components, PG, knot-free GT	50,000
Holzwerk Schilling	Rot an der Rot	170	195	210	65	PG: 8,000	51,000
Holz Schmidt (1)	Cölbe-Schönstadt	100	100	100	100	KVH, PG	80,000
Holzwerk Gebr. Schneider	Eberhardzell	110	120	120	380	KVH/glulam/ceiling elements/CLT: 230,000	62,000
Schrage Holz	Olpe-Neuenkleusheim	48	48	55	17	PG, I: 8,000	10,000
Theodor Schulte	Meschede	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Sägewerk Schwaiger	Hengersberg	900	1,000	1,050	230	n/s	540,000
Schwarzmühle	Meuselbach	87	88	88	20	n/s	n/s
Holzindustrie Schweighofer	Kodersdorf	920	964	1,025	373	PG: 326,000	556,000
Schwörer Haus (8)	Hohenstein-Oberstetten	200	200	200	1,300	KVH, glulam, duo/trio/quattro beams, three-layer particleboards 150,000; prefab houses	130,000
Karl Streit	Hausach	357	365	365	85	PG, battens, I: 50,000	85,000
SWL Tischlerplatten	Marienmünster	80	85	110	23	n/s	n/s
Holzwerke Waal	Waal	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
I. van Roje & Sohn	Oberhonnefeld	315	330	330	115	15,000	128,000
E.A. Vehmeyer	Haselünne	120	135	130	37	––	18,000
Vente-Holz	Finnentrop	100	110	110	75	KVH/duo/trio: 65,000	70,000
Holzwerke Weinzierl	Vilshofen	643	650	650	125	n/s	325,000
Josef Ziegler	Plößberg-Stein	250	250	250	80	PG: 10,000, KVH: 15,000	50,000
Ziegler Holzindustrie	Plößberg-Betzenmühle	1,750	1,850	1,950	550	PG: 500,000	650,000

Source: All details in the table (unless otherwise indicated) provided by the enterprise in question. The table makes no claim to completeness. Printing and typographical errors reserved. Abbreviations: Glulam - Glue-laminated timber; GT - garden timber; PG - planed goods; I - impregnation; KVH - structural finger-jointed timber. (1) Timber-Online estimation based on last year's figures; (2) Volumes from drying and further processing: Capacity data; (3) Total number of employees 750, 111 of which via temp agency; (4) Fire on the 7th of February, damages of several millions of euros, large-dimension line damaged; sawmill I.B.V, Vielsalm/BE: Cutting 800,000 sm³/yr; employees: 260; pellets factory: 300,000 t/yr; drying 300,000 m³/yr; planing mill: 150,000 m³/yr; (5) Volumes from drying and further processing: Capacity data; (6) Part of the Binderholz group since October 2017; (7) Cutting in CZ: 40,000 sm³ (plan 2019), further processing volume incl. companies in CZ, volume from drying only rain; (8) Number of employees for entire group © Timber-Online 2019