EU timber import bottleneck in the first quarter of 2018

The EU’s imports of tropical products began to slow from 2016 to last year, but remained unchanged in the first quarter of 2018. The

In the first quarter of 2018, the imports of EU tropical timber products were only 7% higher than the 195,000 tons of the lowest monthly amount in the euro zone crisis of 2013. 

In terms of value, in the first quarter of 2018, the EU’s monthly imports of tropical timber products averaged about 203 million euros, 13% higher than the 2013 historical low, but 6% lower than the 2016 level. 

In the past three years, the growth of the European Union’s tropical imports and the subsequent slowdown were mostly caused by sawmilling. By 2018, the stability of the European tropical timber trade was mainly due to a slight increase in imports of plywood and charcoal.

In the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017, the total EU import of tropical timber products increased by 1% to 740,000 tons, and tropical charcoal increased by 23% to 85,000 tons. Imported tropical plywood increased 6% to 314,000 tons, while other other secondary products (such as fiberboard and sleepers) reached 14,000 tons, an increase of 9%. 

However, these gains were largely offset by the following drop in imports: Tropical sawn timber was 166,000 tons, down 6%; imported tropical veneer was 29,000 tons, down by 28%; imported tropical mold was 40,000 tons, down 2%; A total of 64,000 tons of grade 3 products (such as flooring, glue, joinery, and wooden tools) fell by 10%.