German exports of raw timber up 42.6% in 2020

Roughly half (50.6%) of the total 12.7 million cubic metres exported were sent to China
Producer prices of raw timber far below the level of previous years: -27.3% in February 2021 compared with 2015
Amount of timber logged reached record high in 2020
Mills for sawing, planing and impregnating wood saw increases in turnover: +18.3% in 2020 compared with 2015

The construction boom during the coronavirus pandemic boosted the demand for timber as a building material in Germany and abroad. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that Germany exported a total of 12.7 million cubic metres of raw timber worth 845 million euros in 2020. In terms of quantity, this was an increase of more than a third (42.6%) compared with 2019.

The growth in exports did not continue at the beginning of 2021. Compared with the same period a year earlier, the quantities exported dropped by 12.4% to 1.5 million cubic metres (value: 100 million euros) in January and February

Source: The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) Press office Phone:  +49 (0) 611/75 34 44