Swedish exports of softwood lumber grew by 17%

Producers of softwood and planed lumber  in Sweden were able to rise exports in all relevant sales regions during the first quarter of 2020.

With a total of 3.767m m³, the amount of sawnwood and planed lumber exported in the first three months surpassed the preceding year’s volume by 17%. Although the growth level already reached in the first two months continued until the end of the quarter, by March the influence of the corona crisis was already being felt in several export countries. The figures of the Swedish Forest Industries Federation (Skogsindustrierna) record a growth of 9% to 2.113m m³  in Europe. Exports to customers outside Europe achieved 1.657m m³, corresponding to an increase of around 30% comparing to the same quarter of 2019.

Although exports to clients in Africa during March 2020 couldn’t any longer quite match the increases from January/February, there is nevertheless an increase of 15% to 689,500m³ for the quarter. Exports to Asia also did not show quite as strong rate towards the end of the quarter, but at 588,100m³ a growth of 29% still remained.

Information provided according to www.euwid-wood-products.com