Global softwood lumber trade remains constant

German exports to the US with the biggest decrease in value

Article by Gerd Ebner (translated by Eva Guzely) | 20.01.2025 - 12:34

Global softwood lumber trade remained constant in terms of volume in the first three quarters of 2024. As in 2023, 79.8 million cubic metres were exported from the 15 largest exporting countries to the 15 largest importing countries.

Of the Top 5 exporting countries, only Canada managed to increase its exports year on year, to be precise by 2% to 24 million m³. Russia (13.9 million m³; -5%), Sweden (10 million m³; -5%), Germany (6.8 million m³; -7%) and Finland (6 million m³; -3%) follow in places two to five.

Austria saw its softwood lumber exports increased by 6% or 250,000 m³ in the first nine months of 2024, making it the sixth-biggest exporting country worldwide.

The 20 biggest bilateral trade flows amounted to 47.7 million m³ as in the previous year. The biggest trade flow, i.e. the one from Canada to the US, grew by 2% in the first three quarters of 2024. Russia, on the other hand, only delivered 8.8 million m³ (-3%) to China. Swedish exports to Great Britain also saw a decrease (-5%).

Austrian softwood lumber exports to Italy remain the fourth-largest trade flow in the world. Nevertheless, this trade flow was down by 1% to 1.93 million m³.

The cumulative value of the trade flows increased slightly by 2% to US-$12 billion. The biggest decrease in value was recorded in German deliveries to the US, which were down by 21% in the first nine months of 2024.

Global foreign trade| Q1-Q3 2024
Vertical: 15 biggest exporting countries / Horizontal: 15 biggest importing countries
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 January 2025).
Countries	Total 1–9 2024	Diff. 1–9 2023/2024	Diff. in %	USA	China	Great Britain	Japan	Italy	Egypt	Germany	Netherlands	Mexico	Uzbekistan	France	South Korea	Saudi Arabia	Austria	Belgium	Other countries	MENA
Canada	24,025	443	2	21,400	1,009	15	787	2	8	72	13	48	0	3	30	18	0	17	604	68
Russia	13,900	–700	–5	1	8,756	0	410	0	450	0	0	n/s	1,330	0	325	n/s	0	0	n/s	1,400
Sweden	9,962	–496	–5	760	237	2,030	624	42	981	581	802	0	0	301	81	184	35	219	3,084	1,865
Germany	6,814	–541	–7	1,514	274	333	112	414	31	–	515	11	0	550	117	82	597	470	1,793	368
Finland	6,030	–179	–3	56	393	506	571	132	897	344	197	1	0	325	14	285	119	87	2,105	1,866
Austria	4,296	248	6	71	26	47	150	1,928	5	581	12	0	0	68	29	146	–	2	1,230	691
USA	2,329	83	4	–	93	8	59	6	14	3	8	836	0	7	8	1	0	3	1,283	33
Latvia	2,171	365	20	96	24	729	57	13	124	67	99	0	0	63	89	4	14	29	765	162
Brazil	2,046	–52	–2	649	166	0	0	0	1	0	0	558	0	5	3	86	0	0	577	215
Chile	1,773	–16	–1	110	206	0	139	1	0	0	0	242	0	0	265	111	0	0	699	223
Belarus	1,700	309	22	0	914	0	0	0	n/s	0	0	n/s	230	0	4	n/s	0	0	552	n/s
Czech Republic	1,382	77	6	53	17	26	79	111	0	400	9	0	0	8	16	3	256	4	402	8
Ukraine	1,273	–20	–2	0	0	1	7	103	0	93	38	0	0	2	2	1	3	41	983	21
New Zealand	1,180	185	19	158	173	1	30	0	0	0	31	5	0	0	129	38	0	3	612	66
Romania	949	288	44	63	32	3	125	34	5	77	4	0	0	1	10	110	21	2	463	420
Total	79,830	–6	0	24,932	12,319	3,700	3,150	2,784	2,515	2,219	1,727	1,703	1,561	1,331	1,120	1,068	1,044	877	15,151	7,406

Product groups: 440711, 440712, 440713, 440714, 440719. Sources/Exporters: AT: Statistik Austria; BR: MDIC/Comex Stat; CA: Statistics Canada; CZ: Czech Statistical Office; CL: Ministry of Agriculture (Minagri)/INFOR; DE: Destatis; FI: Finnish Customs; LV: Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia; NZ: Statistics New Zealand; RO: Eurostat; SE: Statistics Sweden; UA: State Statistics Committee of Ukraine; US: FAS/United States Department of Agriculture. Notes: Russia, Belarus: Volumes in the table refer to data reported by the respective importing country. Sources: CN: China Customs; JP: Statistics of Japan; KR: Korea Customs Service; UZ: Holzkurier estimate based on data by UN Comtrade for H1 2024. Russian exports to Egypt, the MENA region and total volume: Holzkurier estimate. Belarus: “Other countries” refers to Azerbaijan (400,000 m³; Holzkurier estimate based on data by UN Comtrade), Turkey (80,000 m³ acc. to Turkish Statistical Institute) as well as Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (72,000 m³ acc. to UN Comtrade). For the same period of last year, the same markets were taken into account. Total import volumes of Egypt, MENA region without volumes from Belarus, Saudi Arabia without volumes from Russia and Belarus | © holzkurier.com

The 20 biggest global softwood lumber trade flows | Q1-Q3 2024
N.	Exporter	Importer	1–9 in 1,000 m3		Diff.	1–9 in million US-$		Diff.
Trade flows incl. planed timber in 1,000 m³ and million US dollars
N.	Exporter	Importer	2023	2024	Diff.	2023	2024	Diff.
1	Canada	USA	21,055	21,400	2	5,520	5,645	2
2	Russia	China	9,019	8,756	–3	1,792	1,823	2
3	Sweden	Great Britain	2,134	2,030	–5	621	613	–1
4	Austria	Italy	1,947	1,928	–1	517	489	-5
5	Germany	USA	1,833	1,514	–17	519	409	–21
6	Russia	Uzbekistan	1,506	1,330	–12	238	206	–13
7	Canada	China	1,120	1,009	–10	204	204	0
8	Sweden	Egypt	916	981	7	153	194	27
9	Belarus	China	613	914	49	120	174	45
10	Finland	Egypt	781	897	15	123	173	41
11	USA	Mexico	819	836	2	201	196	–3
12	Sweden	Netherlands	801	802	0	222	241	9
13	Canada	Japan	636	787	24	291	338	16
14	Sweden	USA	840	760	–9	244	221	–9
15	Latvia	Great Britain	673	729	8	218	231	6
16	Brazil	USA	698	649	–7	178	168	–6
17	Sweden	Japan	436	624	43	136	197	44
18	Sweden	Denmark	616	620	1	164	180	10
19	Germany	Austria	609	597	–2	170	165	–3
20	Sweden	Germany	604	581	–4	168	171	2

Product groups: 440711, 440712, 440713, 440714, 440719. Sources/Exporters: AT: Statistik Austria; BR: MDIC/Comex Stat; CA: Statistics Canada; DE: Destatis; FI: Finnish Customs; LV: Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia; SE: Statistics Sweden; US: FAS/United States Department of Agriculture. Shipments from RU and BY acc. to the figures reported by the importing countries; CN: China Customs Statistics; UZ/2023: UN Comtrade, UZ/2024: Holzkurier estimate based on data published by UN Comtrade for H1 2024. AT, FI, LV: conversion of EUR into USD, SE: conversion of SEK into USD | © holzkurier.com