Global softwood lumber trade on the decrease

Article by Günther Jauk (translated by Eva Guzely) | 28.12.2023 - 11:15

Canada, Russia, Sweden, Germany and Finland were the five biggest exporters of softwood lumber in the period January to September 2023. However, only one of these countries managed to increase its exports compared to the same period of last year.

In the first three quarters, exports from the 15 biggest softwood lumber supplying countries decreased by 8% or 7.1 million m³ year on year to a total of 80.1 million m³. Once again, Canada was by far the biggest exporter with 23.6 million m³ (-9%), of which almost 90% (21.1 million m³; -9%) were shipped to the US.

Russian softwood lumber exports fell by 13% to 15 million m³. China was the main sales market but recorded a decrease of 13% to 9.02 million m³. In total, China imported almost 13 million m³ of softwood lumber from January to September.

Sweden was the biggest European exporter of softwood lumber. The Scandinavian country achieved an increase of 6%, which brings the total to 10.4 million m³. Sweden’s most important export markets were Great Britain with 2.13 million m³ and the MENA region with 1.99 million m³. The United Kingdom imported a total of 3.82 million m³ of softwood lumber.

Germany exported 7.31 million m³ (-9%), of which 1.83 million m³ were shipped to the US. Finland completes the Top 5 exporting countries (6.18 million m³; -2%). For the Nordic country, the MENA region is the most important market (1.93 million m³). In total, the countries of the region imported 5.64 million m³ of softwood lumber.

Global foreign trade | Q1-Q3 2023
Horizontal: 15 biggest importing countries					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Table of softwood lumber trade flows from the 15 biggest exporting countries to the 15 biggest importing countries as well as to the MENA region (volumes in 1,000 m³). National statistics on lumber exports were used as sources (as of December 2023).
Vertical: 15 biggest exporting countries		Total	Diff. 2022/2023	Diff. in %	USA	China	Great Britain	Italy	Japan	Germany	Uzbekistan	Netherlands	France	Egypt	Mexico	South Korea	Austria	Saudi Arabia	Belgium	Other countries	MENA region
1	Canada	23,631	–2,303	–9	21,114	1,120	13	3	636	15	0	5	4	0	56	28	0	23	19	594	56
2	Russia	15,000	–2,200	–13	5	9,019	0	0	364	0	1,600	0	0	n/s	n/s	345	0	n/s	0	n/s	n/s
3	Sweden	10,451	604	6	840	463	2,134	46	436	603	0	801	340	914	0	114	51	184	211	3,313	1,992
4	Germany	7,313	–713	–9	1,835	367	342	423	64	0	0	507	602	15	9	94	600	74	469	1,913	415
5	Finland	6,186	–105	–2	67	503	553	138	438	343	0	215	378	777	1	17	114	282	106	2,253	1,935
6	Austria	3,982	–460	–10	96	31	39	1,899	105	580	0	3	72	1	0	24	0	102	2	1,028	567
7	USA	2,246	–83	–4	0	93	9	6	61	6	0	13	6	13	819	3	0	1	2	1,214	28
8	Latvia	1,806	–531	–23	65	20	666	13	54	151	0	106	59	54	0	74	12	3	20	510	105
9	Brazil	1,793	–239	–12	588	167	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	463	7	0	110	0	454	236
10	Chile	1,790	–162	–8	95	269	0	0	156	0	0	0	0	0	234	284	0	113	0	638	195
11	Belarus	1,465	–113	–7	0	664	0	0	0	0	290	0	0	n/s	0	2	0	n/s	0	510	n/s
12	Ukraine	1,334	148	12	2	44	n/s	102	7	98	0	44	2	n/s	0	4	5	n/s	37	988	n/s
14	Czech Republic	1,303	–512	–28	51	14	32	191	40	297	0	10	4	0	0	14	230	2	5	413	15
13	New Zealand	996	–47	–4	148	162	1	0	23	1	0	42	0	0	2	119	0	21	1	0	39
15	Belgium	814	–391	–32	25	37	31	0	0	176	0	97	336	1	0	0	0	0	0	111	54
	Total	80,108	–7,104	–8	24,931	12,974	3,820	2,821	2,384	2,270	1,890	1,844	1,807	1,776	1,585	1,126	1,014	913	870	n/s	5,638

Product groups: 440711, 440712, 440713, 440714, 440719. Sources: AT: Statistik Austria; BE: Eurostat, conversion of kg into m³; BR: Comex Stat – MDIC, conversion of kg into m³; CA: Statistics Canada; CZ: Czech Statistical Office; CL: Ministry of Agriculture (Minagri – Chile); DE: Destatis; FI: Finnish Customs; LV: Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia; NZ: Statistics New Zealand; SE: Statistics Sweden; US: United States Department of Agriculture. Notes: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine: Figures in the table refer to data reported by the respective importing country. Sources: US: United States Department of Agriculture; CN: China Customs; JP: Statistics of Japan; KR: Korea Customs Service; UZ: Holzkurier estimate based on data by UN Comtrade/State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistics. Shipments from Ukraine to IT, DE, NL, FR, AT, BE acc. to Eurostat; Total volume of Russia: Holzkurier estimate based on data by Roslesinforg. Belarus: “Other countries” refers to Azerbaijan with 359,200 m³, Armenia and Georgia with total of 57,400 m³ acc. to Comtrade and Turkey with 93,000 m³ acc. to Turkish Statistical Institute; Ukraine: “Other countries” refers to EU countries which are not among the Top 15 importing countries (584,400 m³ acc. to Eurostat), Turkey with 287,300 m³ acc. to Turkish Statistical Institute and Moldova with 117,000 m³ acc. to UN Comtrade. Total import volumes of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and MENA region without volumes from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus | © www.holzkurier.com