According to the latest statistics from the Timber Trade Federation (TTF), between June and October 2020, UK timber and lumber imports have been strong for five consecutive months.
Total imports of key timber and board products in October 2020 were 21% higher than UK levels for the same period in 2019, as imports surged to over 1 million in October, the Timber Trade Federation's monthly report published on 20 October showed. cubic meter.
However, even this strong market performance could not make up for the sharp drop in import values in the second quarter, meaning that for the ten months to October 2020, imports were still 11% lower than a year earlier. In terms of the import value of solid wood, in 2020, it will drop by 8% compared with 2019, while the import value of board products will decrease by 15%.
Compared to the same period in 2019, the increase in autumn 2020 was mainly due to higher imports of plywood and MDF, which led to higher imports of matching OSB and cork. Documented imports of these four products increased by 15% in the last three months (August-October 2020) (imports of 377,000 cubic meters).
In October 2020, the UK's softwood imports exceeded 700,000 cubic meters, the highest value in October each year since 2003. The main importing countries are Sweden and Latvia. Germany and Russia also exported more cork to the UK during the month compared to October 2019.
OSB imports in October 2020 were 54,000 cubic meters, the highest month of imports in the 10-month period from January to October 2020, compared to October 2019 imports (32,000 cubic meters) an increase of 68%.
MDF imports continued to grow steadily to 77,000 cubic meters, an 18% increase from October 2019 (65,000 cubic meters).
The import value of plywood continued to show a strong recovery trend, and the import volume exceeded 100,000 cubic meters for two consecutive months. The import volume in October 2020 was 111,000 cubic meters, slightly better than the import value in the same period last year (October 2019, 107,000 cubic meters).
David Hopkins, chief executive of the Timber Trade Federation, said: "Demand for all products has increased significantly this year and we are delighted to see such strong import volumes at a time when supply chains have been severely disrupted by the pandemic. Through communication with our members, we expect that the statistics will continue to show an upward trend in the last two months of 2020, and the total import value in 2020 will be only slightly lower than that in 2019. With the epidemic situation so severe, this is already an amazing achievement. However, despite the rebound in the supply of raw materials, we must remind the majority of manufacturers that the supply chain is still tight, and suppliers will try their best to ensure the demand of each manufacturer. These statistics are a positive signal for economic recovery, but there is still a lot of work to be done before the market fully recovers."