26 | Sector Market Update: Chipboard
STILL HOPING FOR IMPROVEMENT
Little has changed in the fortunes of the UK chipboard market in 2025, with demand continuing low and some businesses struggling. As for 2026, little improvement is anticipated, as TTJ markets editor Mike Botting reports
Above: Chipboard mat on the production line before pressing
The December 2025 report from Timber Development UK (TDUK) summarised the first three quarters of that year. The figures for chipboard do not make for comfortable reading. Chipboard import volumes in Q3 2025 vs Q3 2024 was a disappointing minus 0.2%, while chipboard in Quarters 1 to 3 2025 showed only a 1% rise over 2024. The report also summarises the chipboard import volumes between January and September 2025 as 452,000m3 (Jan-Sept 2024: 446,000m3). The value of all chipboard imports in the first nine months of 2025 was 8% lower than in the same period in 2024 - due to a 9% drop in the average price of the
TTJ | Spring 2026 |
www.ttjonline.com
basket of chipboard products combined with a 1% increase in volume.
MARKET IMPRESSIONS
Several manufacturers, importers and traders in chipboard were interviewed by TTJ in mid- December/early January for this report and most confirmed the TDUK findings. One UK manufacturer said that the current market showed flat demand, much the same as it was early in 2025 when interviewed for a previous chipboard report (TTJ September 2025). The spokesman also said that he saw the same situation being maintained for at least
the first half of 2026. He added that his company has been able to maintain its factory at full capacity, in spite of the lacklustre market, through “diversification of our product mix and presence in the markets.” Moving on to prices, the manufacturer said that they had been flat in 2025 but that various manufacturers were talking of price increases. He expected prices to rise in early 2026, but by no more than 5%. The company was also not optimistic about a rise in housebuilding, feeling that an upturn in the spring was unlikely. This mood continues in the industry in spite of the current government’s insistence on its half-
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