In 2019, the EU exported wood products with a total value of Euro 22.3 billion, a 1% increase compared to 2018 (Euro 22.1 billion) but below 2017 (Euro 22.4 billion) when exports were at record levels, as ITTO reported.
Although EU exports of wood furniture, sawnwood, panels, and ‘other’ joinery products, this was offset by a rise in exports of energy wood, flooring, other processed products and, particularly notable, a sharp increase in log exports, much of it comprising softwood and destined for China.
The combined effect of last year’s large rise in EU imports, balanced by a more moderate growth in EU exports, was to reduce the EU’s trade surplus in timber products with the rest of the world from Euro 2.37 billion in 2018 to Euro 1.81 billion last year. Longer term, the EU’s trade surplus in wood products has now fallen by 70% since 2013 (when it stood at over Euro 6 billion) as growth in EU imports has outpaced exports.
