26 | Sector Focus: British Timber
SUMMARY
■The fencing season has been strong ■Sawn timber prices strengthened in early 2024
■Log availability is good but replanting levels are concerning
■The new government’s housing targets are expected to boost demand
BETTER TIMES FOR BRITISH TIMBER
Primary processors of British-grown timber have witnessed improving demand this year. Sally Spencer reports
Last year proved to be a bumpy one for the timber industry and processors of British-grown timber were certainly not the exception. Thankfully, though, while no one is exactly hanging out the bunting just yet, 2024 has seen some improvement and demand – and prices – have picked up. “The demand for timber in general is relatively steady, but this is just a reflection of uncertainty in the housebuilding and repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) markets,” said Mike Faulkner, commercial director at BSW Group. “This has been driven in part by the general election and the ongoing issues with cost of living and mortgages. All products are selling well, and we expect that this will continue as consumer confidence and demand fully recovers, following a very challenging few years.” Scott Gordon, joint managing director at Gordon Timber agreed that “it’s certainly a better picture than last year”, adding that this is down to customers having run their stocks down through to the end of 2023 and to the wave of storms that hit the UK early in the year, kick-starting fencing demand. “The storms brought some much-needed fencing demand, which drove things on,” said Mr Gordon. “Fencing has been flat out – it’s been a very good season. We see demand continuing for a while yet, which is good to see.”
Above: Demand and sawn timber prices have strengthened for Gordon Timber TTJ | September/October 2024 |
www.ttjonline.com
He added that demand for pallets had also improved considerably, clearing a lot of the sawmill’s stock and that while the construction timber market was probably the poorest of the main three product groups, “demand there is ok”.
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