Imports decreased by nearly 40%

Article by Raphael Kerschbaumer (translated by Eva Guzely) | 31.10.2023 - 09:27

In the first three quarters of 2023, Japan imported significantly smaller volumes of softwood lumber than last year. Marked decreases were recorded in purchases from all the main supplying countries. With a total of 2.37 million m³, total imports were down by 39% compared to 2022.

When it comes to softwood lumber imports, Japan has a very diversified network of suppliers. In the first nine months of 2023, there was a difference of only 150,000 m³ between main supplier Canada (515,000 m³) and Russia (365,000 m³), which ranks fourth. This year, however, both Canada (-31%) and Russia (-46%) saw their shipments decrease sharply.

Japan also reduced its purchases from Scandinavia. With 448,000 m³ (-35%), Finland came in second, outperforming its neighbor Sweden (427,000 m³; -38%) by a narrow margin.

Shipments from Austria more than halved in the first three quarters (118,000 m³; -54%), and softwood lumber imports from Germany fell by 45% year on year to only 55,000 m³.

As always, you can find the detailed development of exports and statistics of each country in our Datacube.

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