austria

Austria’s biggest sawmills of 2019

In 2019, cutting increased by about 5% in Austria

Article by Martina Nöstler (translated by Eva Guzely) | 08.01.2020 - 13:29

Traditionally, at the beginning of the year, Timber-Online surveys the cutting volumes of Austrian softwood sawmills which cut more than 50,000 m³ a year. As was the case in the past few years, the quantities reported by the sawmills show a further increase in cutting.

The increase in cutting in Austrian sawmills is partly due to the positive economic development last year, especially in the first months. Additionally, there were big quantities of wood damaged by storms and bark beetles, which had to be removed from forests and which led to a very high availability of raw material.

In 2019, the cutting volume of those companies who reported their figures reached a total of 13.2 million m³. Compared to 2018, this is an increase of 4.7% which is the result of higher cutting volumes of many companies, Sägewerk Holz Hahn in Rappottenstein, which is new in the list, and the reconstruction of Kirchner in Radstadt after the fire at the end of 2017.

According to the industry report 2018/19 of the Timber Industry Association of Austria, sawn timber production of all companies amounted to 10.4 million m³ (including hardwood) in 2018. Assuming a 5% increase, this would mean a total of 10.9 million m³ in 2019.

Austria’s single biggest production site is located in Leoben where Mayr-Melnhof Holz Holding reached a record cutting volume of 1.3 million m³ in 2019. Holzindustrie Maresch in Retz follows closely in second place with 1.29 million m³. Stora Enso’s site in Ybbs and Binderholz’s sawmill in Fügen also passed the one million mark with 1.19 million m³ and 1.04 million m³, respectively. The ten biggest sawmills which reported their 2019 figures stated a cutting volume of 10.23 million m³.

When adding the companies (estimate) who did not specify quantities, cutting reached a total of about 15.3 million m³ in 2019.

Looking at the target figures of Austrian sawmills (including estimates by Timber-Online), cutting could further increase in 2020, to around 15.9 million m³. Most of the target figures for 2020 are stable on this year’s level. However, some of the bigger companies want to raise cutting. Two new constructions or changes to existing sites, which will have an effect in 2020 and 2021, are Hasslacher Norica Timber in Preding and Holzindustrie Handlos in Summerau. So far, cutting volume at Handlos has not been confirmed but is estimated to reach about 250,000 m³ a year. In Preding one-shift cutting capacity is going to rise to 500,000 m³ a year.

Austria’s biggest softwood sawmills | 2019/target 2020
Company	Site	Cutting 2017	Cutting 2018	Cutting 2019	Planned cutting 2020	Staff	Processing (m³/year)	Drying (m³/year)
Austrian sawmills with an annual cutting volume of over 50,000 m³, processing and drying quantities of 2019; cutting volumes in 1,000 m³
Binderholz (2)	Fügen	960	1,040	1,050	1,040	2,750	planed timber: 320,000; glulam: 270,000; solid wood panels: 22,000 in Fügen, 70,000 in St. Georgen	800,000
Brunner-Stern	Hohenberg	70	80	90	90	n/s	n/s	40,000
Egger Holz	Liezen	124	140	140	145	42	pallets: 8,000	90,000
Entacher	Großarl	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Erhart Holz	Sonntag	55	55	60	60	35	planed timber: 2,000, cuts: 8,000	30,000
Säge Gußwerk (3)	Gußwerk	50	55	52	65	33	planed timber: 18,000; spruce/fir/pine moon timber; special rift/semi-rift cuts in spruce, fir, larch	28,000
Holz Hahn	Rappottenstein	–	–	73	80	31	solid structural timber, glulam, duo beams: 35,000	25,000
Hasslacher Hermagor	Hermagor	155	165	180	190	70	planed timber: 20,000, pellets: 25,000 tons (premium pellets)	110,000
Hasslacher Norica Timber (4)	Sachsenburg	970	1,050	850	820	1,700	planed timber: 160,000; solid structural timber: 120,000; glulam: 170,000; CLT: 65,000; pellets: 70,000 tons	770,000
	Preding			275	360	1,700
Hutter Sägewerk	St. Michael/ Lungau	85	90	90	90	40	finger-jointed and glued knot-free products in spruce and fir; Faszino facade; SGL- middle layers for three-layer panels and parquet; ca. 16,000	28,000
Holzindustrie Kaml & Huber	Rottenmann	100	105	120	120	32	––	80,000
Kirchner Säge- und Hobelwerk (5)	Radstadt	83	––	90	100	30	slats: 8,000	40,000
Holzindustrie Kirnbauer	Prigglitz	80	105	120	120	80	glulam, duo, trio beams, solid structural timber: 70,000	68,000
Klausbauer Holzindustrie	Lainbach	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Holzindustrie Maresch	Retz	1,165	1,200	1,290	1,300	195	––	––
Mayr-Melnhof Holz Holding (6)	Leoben	998	1,200	1,300	1,350	1,950	––	450,000
Josef Moser	Münichreith	60	60	60	60	22	FSC certified; 6,000 m³ of hardwood	17,000
Mosser Holzindustrie	Wolfpassing	325	350	350	360	60	n/s	150,000
Neuschmied Holz	Hopfgarten/ Brixental	125	125	130	132	55	planed timber: 15,000, cutting of slats: 22,000	70,000
Johann Offner Holzindustrie	Wolfsberg	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	––	n/s
Johann Pabst Holzindustrie	Obdach	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	planed timber, glulam, pellets	n/s
Pfeifer Holzindustrie (7)	Imst	60	60	60	50	2.000	processing: 400,000	500,000
	Kundl	600	600	600	600	2.000	processing: 400,000	500,000
Planegger Holz	Launsdorf	85	100	100	n/s	33	pallets: 10,000	35,000
Prehofer Holz	Rutzenmoos	60	70	80	80	35	planed timber: 15,000	15,000
Rubner Holzindustrie	Rohrbach/ Lafnitz	300	300	310	310	115	Duo-/Triolam: 35,000	175,000
Donausäge Rumplmayr	Enns, Altmünster	650	750	750	780	165	95,000	365,000
Samonig Sägewerk	Fürnitz	53	51	45	50	28	planed timber	25,000
Schaffer Sägewerk & Holzexport	Eppenstein	100	106	105	110	67	––	45,000
Holzindustrie Schafler	Hirnsdorf	––	52	60	60	85	Euro pallets, special pallets, collars, crates, overseas packaging	25,000
Holzhof Schmidt	Aspang	60	80	90	90	25	pellets: 14,000	50,000
Schößwendter Holz	Saalfelden	250	250	250	250	120	planed timber: 55,000	n/s
Holzindustrie Stallinger	Frankenmarkt	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Gebrüder Steininger	Rastenfeld	300	310	330	350	50	––	60,000
Sägewerk Josef Steurer	Schwarzach	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Stora Enso Wood Products	Brand	750	750	770	n/s	290	planed timber: 200,000, posts: 55,000	360,000
	Ybbs	1,100	1,200	1,190	n/s	470	planed timber: 300,000, posts: 75,000, CLT: 100,000	630,000
	Bad St. Leonhard	600	600	590	n/s	260	planed timber: 20,000, CLT: 80,000	280,000
Brüder Theurl	Assling	455	480	500	500	250	glulam: 103,000, planed timber: 35,000; CLT starting in May	n/s
Troger-Holz	Vomp	300	330	325	325	100	formwork panels: 250,000 m²	150,000
Sägewerk UPM Steyrermühl	Laakirchen	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s	––	n/s
VM-Holz	Vöcklamarkt	590	640	660	700	140	pellets: 101,000 tons	340,000
Zwickl Holz (8)	Raabs/Thaya, Jemnice/CZ	62	60	60	60	n/s	planed timber: 2,200	7,000

Source: All figures and information (unless otherwise indicated) have been provided by the companies. The table is not exhaustive. 1) Timber-Online estimate based on last year’s data 2) number of employees of the group 3) 2019 reduced cutting quantity due to changes to the sawmill 4) number of employees of the group, processing of CLT in Stall im Mölltal, glulam only in Austria 5) Fire at the entire production in the night of 29-30 December 2017; re-start in February 2019 6) number of employees of the entire group 7) number of employees of all national and international production sites; processing and drying volumes of Austrian sites only. 8) Cutting quantity of larch only | © Holzkurier 2020