Tree trunks as far as the eye can see – long rows of spruce and pine wood are piled up on the premises of the Ziegler company in the Upper Palatinate. The stacks are several meters high. Here, in one of the largest sawmills in Europe, they are processed into sawn timber. Around 340 truck deliveries are added every day, and 9,000 solid cubic meters of wood run through the saw. Companies in the wood industry have full order books. Not only, but also because of Corona.
With a view to 2021, the Federal Association of the German Sawmill and Timber Industry (DeSH) speaks of a year of extremes. The domestic market had more wood available than ever before, says DeSH President Jörn Kimmich. “In this way, the industry has not only reacted quickly and flexibly to market events, but has also shown potential that is groundbreaking for the future of sustainable wood use in Germany.” After the enormous demand in the first half of 2021, demand fell significantly in the second half of the year – due to the large inventories and stocks at retailers and processors. A better balance between supply and demand would be important here, says Kimmich.
The fact that business is going well at the Ziegler Group in Plößberg in the district of Tirschenreuth can be seen from the newly opened company headquarters. From the wooden building, the family business with around 2,200 employees controls the business areas of wood processing, logistics, building construction and mechanical engineering as well as gastronomy. For 2021, the Ziegler Group is targeting sales of 900 million euros, says Managing Director Andreas Sandner. With an annual processing of 2.2 million solid cubic meters of wood at a single location, the sawmill is the largest in Europe.
Andreas Sandner is Managing Director of the Ziegler Group, and he thinks he’s noticing a “Fridays-for-Future” effect.
(Photo: Armin Weigel/dpa)
Sawmills are among the beneficiaries of the corona pandemic. But the construction boom had already begun. Climate-friendly construction is in vogue, says Sandner. Today’s builders come from the “Generation Sustainability”. Timber construction is more climate-friendly than concrete construction, for example. When it comes to environmental protection, a “Fridays-for-Future” effect is noticeable. Builders placed more emphasis on building in a way that minimizes the impact on their children’s generation. The pandemic has exacerbated the situation in many ways. “In the first phase of the pandemic, the do-it-yourself sector in particular saw a surge in demand, as private individuals in particular were investing in their own property.” People traveled less and made themselves nicer at home – for example with a new terrace or a new sauna. Prices soared with demand for lumber early in the pandemic, later increased costs pushed prices higher. “In some cases, the prices for individual types of sawn timber have multiplied,” says Sandner.
A spokesman for the forest owners’ association criticizes that the high prices have unfortunately not reached the forest farmers to the same extent. Forest farmers are only willing to sign contracts with sawmills if the price is right. In its timber market report for 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture writes that the situation for forest owners improved slightly between the first and second quarters. “The consistently high demand for softwood sawn timber in Germany and in the important export markets has led to strong regional price increases for spruce logs, although these in no way reflect the development on the purchasing markets.”
Apart from the demand, Corona also had organizational consequences, says Sandner. Employees from the Czech Republic lived in hotels because of the border closure and were therefore unable to visit their families. Sandner speaks of the great solidarity of the employees towards the company. Later, border commuters would have had restrictions due to tightened controls at the border. The pandemic also had an impact on exports. The Ziegler Group supplies around 70 percent of its wood abroad, primarily to Australia, Dubai and China. Serving customers – i.e. keeping the cargo ships running – was a logistical challenge.
The corona virus will probably remain a companion in the future, but the bigger issues in the industry are climate change and the demand for sustainable construction. The softwoods spruce and pine are the solution here, even for demanding constructions. Strategic silviculture is particularly important for these trees – flat roots – in order to keep bark beetle infestation and drought damage to a minimum. According to the DeSH, the German sawmill industry comprises a good 2,000 mainly medium-sized companies with a total of 24,000 employees. About 70 percent are micro-enterprises with a maximum of nine employees. According to the information, the industry has an annual turnover of around 6.5 billion euros.