Status: 05.09.2022 08:15 a.m
The wood industry is in a crisis mood: More and more wood is being exported to China, although the raw material is already scarce here. And less wood may be felled in the forests.
Andreas Decker is not on good terms with China at the moment. Because the competition from the Far East is making life difficult for the managing director of the solid wood furniture manufacturer Möbelwerke Decker from Borgentreich in East Westphalia. Too much wood from Germany is currently being exported to China.
“In the period from 2021 to 2022, 39.3 percent of oak logs were sold to China, and in the same period 24 percent less oak was felled in sustainably managed German forest areas,” Decker calculates. “The behavior of the Chinese market is so problematic that we see our values as a manufacturer and as an employer threatened and have to invest a lot in order to remain competitive.”
The situation is also problematic ecologically and economically. Domestic wood is shipped to Asia as round wood, processed there and then shipped back as wood material packed in plastic – with a large CO2 footprint in the luggage.
Difficulties in sawmills
According to statistics from the furniture industry association, 146,000 cubic meters of oak wood were exported last year. In the case of beech wood, with 255,000 of a total of 560,000 cubic meters, it is almost 46 percent of exports. The association complains about an enormous outflow of material from Europe to Asia. A problem for the industry.
The lack of availability of wood is currently the biggest challenge for the industry, says the managing director of the Federal Association of the German Sawmill and Wood Industry, Julia Möbus. In the past few months, there have therefore been production cuts. “The sawmills are having unprecedented problems getting hardwood from regional forests for domestic processing,” she complains.
A major problem in the supply of domestic hardwood is the increasing use bans in state forests. Hesse, for example, has prohibited making beeches more than 100 years old from special conservation areas available for processing. “If forest maintenance and the provision of wood are banned on larger areas, less and less wood will be available for processing, for which domestic and international buyers will compete,” says Möbus.
The EU practically does not restrict exports
The spokeswoman refers to the latest association-internal survey among hardwood companies in May. According to this, around two thirds of the companies surveyed report a poor supply situation with hardwood – this is the negative record since 2014.
Denny Ohnesorge, General Manager of the Main Association of the German Timber Industry, explains that the European Union is currently relatively vulnerable to trade distortions. “Because in the area of wood products as well as processed natural and industrial products, the EU traditionally pursues a philosophy of open markets. The EU is practically the only large trading bloc worldwide without significant export restrictions for raw materials,” says Ohnesorge.
Is there a risk of short-time work due to the lack of wood?
Andreas Decker sums up the concerns of the industry: “If the procurement market situation with regard to the raw material wood does not change, this will mean production difficulties for the furniture industry with major economic consequences.” Customers would then have to be prepared for extremely long delivery times. “If there’s no material, we can’t produce any furniture and we can’t serve the sales market,” says Decker.
Julia Möbus is also pessimistic about the future. “If the companies can no longer process enough wood from the local forests, they will inevitably have to limit their production.” It is mainly small and medium-sized companies that process hardwood in Germany. “The lack of wood could quickly lead to short-time work”.