EU27 tropical wood product imports fall for the first time
Half of 2023 In the first six months of this year, the EU27 imported 838,900 tonnes of tropical timber and wooden furniture worth a total of USD1.73b, or 18% respectively 29% less than in the same period in 2022. The decline in trade in the first six months of the year is partly due to imports being at historically high levels in the first half of 2022, especially given the value terms.
In volume terms, EU27 imports of tropical timber and wooden furniture totalled 410,000 tonnes in the second quarter. The first quarter of this year was 4 per cent lower than the previous quarter and 24 per cent lower than the same quarter in 2022. EU27 imports in the first and second quarters of this year are annual well below the long-term average of 450,000 tonnes per quarter for the 2012-2019 period.
The total value of EU27 imports of tropical wood and timber in the second quarter of Wooden furniture sales of $831 million this year were down 7 per cent from the previous quarter and 35 per cent from the previous quarter below the same period last year.
Despite the sharp decline in imports this year, the value of imports in both countries in the first and second quarter was significantly higher than in the long term period averaging about $ 800 million per quarter in 2012 and 2019, a period of relative stagnation in the market for tropical products prevalent in Europe in the period before the crisis of the new crown conditions.
Overall, the trade data highlights that import prices EU27 markets for tropical timber and wood furniture products remained relatively high in the first half of the year despite a sharp fall in freight rates and a decline in consumption this year. This is in line with wider inflationary trends affecting the EU market, driven in particular by high energy costs.
