EU imports of tropical hardwood plywood products were 174,200 MT in the first half of 2019, 8% more than the same period last year. Import value increased 14% to €154.4 million.
A large and growing proportion of the plywood faced with tropical hardwood imported into the EU is manufactured in China. The EU imported 76,100 MT of this product from China in the first half of 2019, 39% more than during the same period in 2018.
Imports also increased from Gabon, by 9% to 7,400 MT, Viet Nam, by 3% to 6,100 MT, and Brazil, by 9% to 6,000 MT. These gains offset a 4% fall in imports from Indonesia, to 46,300 MT, and 32% fall from Malaysia, to 19,700.
EU imports of tropical hardwood plywood during 2019 are being strongly influenced by market issues elsewhere in the world, notably the US-China trade dispute which has led to a dramatic decline in Chinese tropical hardwood plywood exports to the United States and increasing diversion of Chinese product to the EU, mainly destined for the UK.
In the first half of 2019, UK imports of tropical hardwood plywood products increased 17% to 95,400 MT, despite widespread reports of overstocking and declining plywood consumption in the country. UK imports of tropical hardwood plywood from China increased 81% to 55,000 MT in the first six months of 2019, while UK imports from Malaysia fell 32%, to 16,800 MT, and were down 14% from Indonesia to 17,800 MT.
Tropical hardwood plywood imports into other EU countries were less volatile in the first half of 2019. Moderate declines in imports in Belgium (-8% to 19,100 MT), Germany (-3% to 13,000 MT), France (-3% to 10,100 MT) and Italy (-2% to 8,800 MT) were offset by an 8% rise in imports in the Netherlands, to 18,500 MT.
Source: Internet
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