Jul 03, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. European forward buying of African hardwood sawn lumber, particularly the major commercial redwoods such as sapele and sipo, remains very subdued and has been slowing further now with the onset of the summer holiday season, ITTO reported. Some buyers are using even minor shipment delays as an excuse for canceling orders. The market for some whitewood species such as ayous and koto is a little better, while the European ban on the import of Myanmar teak imposed in March 2008 has generated some new interest in iroko for the boat building industry. Overall FOB price levels are stable for most species, although there are some reports of weakness in prices for sipo and also for framire due to slow demand in the UK and Ireland, the principal markets. Given current sluggish buying, there are few reports of problems in forward supply. The only issues mentioned being lack of supply of good quality wawa sawn lumber from Ghana and of dimension products in certain species such as makore, which is now in demand in parts of Eastern Europe. While FOB prices are stable, prices for onward sales to European distributors and manufacturers of species which are heavily stocked on the European continent, notably sapele, remain under pressure.