Even in July, during the holiday season, sales of packaging products were good in Germany. Supply from the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine has decreased further. As a result, smaller quantities of EPAL goods are being placed on the market. Supply matches the stable, but not booming, market.
Sideboards: partially overwhelmed market
The situation is slightly more difficult in Italy, where sales are much less strong than in Germany, the Benelux countries or in France. The unexpectedly high lumber production output in Austria in the first half of this year has partly overwhelmed the most important sales market, Italy. The Holzkurier identified a stable price for fresh 17-mm sideboards from the end of May to the end of July. Fresh sideboards with certain dimensions are even scarce at the moment.
This year, the Ferragosto holidays last from August 8 to September 2 and are thus longer than ever before. In Italy, the ranges whose prices are under pressure now are expected to remain like that until September. Longer-term contracts are rare because “nobody knows how the situation will develop in September”, as one market participant put it. “If production isn’t curtailed in Germany and Austria, nothing will change for the better in the autumn,” another one comments.