Sector Market Update: Hardwood | 17
SUMMARY
■ Hardwood markets worldwide are lacking confidence
■The UK market has become increasingly challenging to forecast
■White oak remains the UK’s US hardwood of choice
■Iroko remains a challenge to find in volume
HAND TO MOUTH IN HARDWOOD
In a challenging hardwood market, forward ordering and speculative buying are in short supply. Mike Jeffree reports
One trader summed up the wider view of the market among UK hardwood businesses. It is, he said, a bit of a battle.
Comment from the sector was not all downbeat. Some parts of the market are proving robust and positive. Traders also said as long as they respond quickly, there are opportunities to be exploited. The view was also that the wider your product offering, and broader your customer base, the better the prospects.
But the general consensus is that business overall is flat, the outlook uncertain. “There has also been a lot of churn in our competition base, reflecting the wider economic situation,” said an importer/ distributor. “Some companies have contracted their operations, releasing more product than usual into the market and impacting margins. But that seems to have washed through. In fact, product or geographic areas they’ve pulled out of are now presenting opportunities for the rest of us. It’s definitely helped in a challenging environment.” A trader who operates internationally said that hardwood markets worldwide are lacking confidence.
Above: One company said they were selling volumes of sapele but not making money on it
“Day-to-day business seems OK – there is that underlying flow of sales, and actually after a slow Q2, we had a good Q3. It’s hard to know why, but maybe customers, who have been cautious about buying are now having to replenish,” said a spokesperson. “But generally, business has been slow, and the lack of confidence is reflected in lower levels of forward business.” Part of the backdrop to this, they added, is continuing global trade and geopolitical uncertainty.
“The US has been really slow, with the tariff situation leaving buyers not knowing what they’ll be paying for wood tomorrow, let alone six months down the line,” they said. “While the outlook has now improved, of course, the Middle East was impacted by the Israel-Iran conflict and by Gaza. For us the market was very strong at the back end of 2024 but has slowed considerably. And China and Vietnam have been slow since the pandemic.”
The UK, they said provided little in the way of relief. “Fortunately for us, because we trade in so many countries, when there’s a dip in one, we get a pick-up in another,” they said. “But if we just traded in the UK, it would be a different story. I believe only 5% of the UK trade would say they’d had a good year.” An importer said the UK market has become increasingly challenging to forecast. “It’s just tough. Everyone is chasing for business, and everything is competitive,” they said. “Consumers are still under pressure, and their cash flow is tight, with a reported five million homeowners facing higher mortgages. Also, so many did home improvements post- Covid. So that business is done. The days of indicators and being able to predict what’s going to happen seem to be over. One item can be slow for six months, then massively in vogue for two and you’ve sold out. It’s a case of ticking off each month as plus or minus break even and moving on. We’re not on budget as we’d predicted growth, but we’re more or less where we were last year, which in the circumstances we consider good enough.”
An importer/distributor said, while margins are tight, their volumes are actually up ►
www.ttjonline.com | November/December 2025 | TTJ
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