62 | Sector Focus: Tropical Timber
SUMMARY
■UK tropical wood imports in the first five months of 2022 were up 49% on 2021
■There are concerns that Chinese products may incorporate Russian hardwood
■Tropical timber has been losing share of UK sawnwood imports
■A fall in container costs has made Asian timber more affordable
FROM TROPICAL SURGE TO
SLOWDOWN?
After a strong start to 2022, deteriorating market conditions threaten to slow the UK tropical timber trade. That’s according to latest reports from Rupert Oliver of
Forest Industries Intelligence (
www.forestindustries.info) for the International Tropical Timber Organisation’s market information service (
www.itto.int), of which the following is a summary
UK tropical timber and wood product imports this year had their strongest first five months since before the 2008 financial crisis. Increasingly strong economic headwinds, however, look set to make coming months more of a challenge.
The first five months’ value of UK tropical timber imports averaged around US$500m over the last decade. In 2022 they hit US$711m, a 34% increase on 2021. Price inflation contributed to this growth, compounded by weakening sterling from April, however, import volumes also rose, up 10% on the first five months of last year. UK imports of all tropical wood products in the first five months in the HS44 customs codes category (joinery, plywood, sawnwood, mouldings and ‘other’ timber goods) were worth US$337m, up 49% on 2021. Volume rose 14% to 150,000 tonnes.
Imports of tropical joinery were up 43% to US$140m, plywood 26% to US$85m, sawnwood 88% to US$57m and mouldings and decking 65% to US$16m.
Above: UK imports from Indonesia rose in the first five months of 2022 TTJ | November/December 2022 |
www.ttjonline.com
Tropical joinery imports have been building momentum since mid-2020, with imports from Indonesia (primarily doors) being a key factor in growth. In the first five months of 2022 these rose a further 37% to US$77m, with volume up 11% to 24,500 tonnes.
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