Sector Market Update: ISC | 25
SUMMARY
■The ISC took place as a hybrid event
■Around 300 delegates attended in person or online
■Raw material availability in the future is a key concern
■The conference also looked at EU climate strategy
POSITIVE POST-COVID PROSPECTS
ISC IDENTIFIES
The softwood sector is hoping for a calmer market environment in 2022, but demand is forecast to continue to outstrip output. Mike Jeffree reports from the International Softwood Conference
It’s been a year of unprecedented challenge, but also of profit and opportunity in the global softwood trade. That was the message from speakers at this year’s hybrid International Softwood Conference (ISC), held in Helsinki and simultaneously broadcast online.
From the slump in output and consumption in the early days of pandemic, said speakers, demand picked up rapidly. A key market driver was construction, with governments worldwide backing it as a vital engine to jump start Covid-hit economies. Arguably more remarkable, however, has been the impetus the softwood sector has had from the home improvement market. Speaker John Herbert, general-secretary of the sector’s trade bodies EDRA and GHIN, said the pandemic saw consumers worldwide “rediscovering the home”. Confined to their houses in lockdown and on furlough, they spent money saved on vacations and leisure activities upgrading their properties and converting them to living/work spaces. Consequently, while global GDP shrank 1.4% in 2020, the global value of home improvement retail jumped 13.8% to €702bn. Moreover, wood and timber products accounted for a rising percentage of sales.
Top: The Conference attracted an audience of 300; 200 in person, 100 online Above: Networking between presentations
With output constrained by pandemic workforce shortages and Covid-safe work practices, said speakers, the result of soaring softwood demand was, of course, soaring softwood prices. ►
www.ttjonline.com | November/December 2021 | TTJ
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