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Report from
Europe
UK Timber Market Briefing underscores tough trading,
but longer term hope
The conclusion of the first Timber Market Briefing from
Timber Development UK (TDUK), the leading
representative body of the country’s timber sector, is that
the wider industry is still facing challenging times. The
fundamentals remain strong, it says and the prospects for
wood as a construction and manufacturing material are
positive given its combination of environmental and
technical performance. In fact, given the trading
environment, it has shown ‘notable resilience’. However,
the current slow UK economy and particularly the
building industry slump, are restraining progress.
The Market Briefing is based on the views of decision
makers across the timber production, trade, processing and
end-use sectors.
“To better understand how current conditions are affecting
different parts of the supply chain, Timber Development
UK canvassed a range of our members representing
sawmills, timber product manufacturers, timber
engineering businesses, timber merchants and suppliers,”
states the Briefing introduction. ‘While these businesses
operate in different sectors and serve different customer
groups, their responses reveal a remarkable degree of
consistency regarding the challenges currently facing the
sector.”
Besides economic uncertainty, subdued consumer
confidence and weak housing activity, geopolitical
instability also weighs on the UK timber industry, it says.
“While many businesses entered 2026 expecting
conditions to improve gradually, the year has instead
become a continuation of the difficult market conditions
experienced across much of the previous three years”
states the executive summary. “Customers remain
cautious, investment decisions are being delayed and
forecasting future demand has become increasingly
difficult.”
The UK government has set a target to facilitate
construction of 1.5 million new homes over its five-year
term. Currently, however, that goal looks difficult to
attain.
“Housebuilding activity continues to fall short of
government ambitions, while confidence among
developers, investors and consumers remains fragile,” said
the TDUK. “Many businesses across the timber supply
chain report that the underlying need for housing and
construction remains strong, but that uncertainty and low
confidence is preventing demand from being translated
into projects and orders.”
It adds that conflict in the Middle East has ‘added another
layer of complexity to an already difficult market’.
“Rising oil prices, supply chain disruption and renewed
inflationary concerns have all contributed to weakening
confidence across the construction supply chain,” it says.
It cites the latest forecasts from the Construction Products
Association.
“Having forecast construction output growth of 1.7% for
2026 a few months ago, the CPA now expects output to
decline by 2.5%,” it says. “The forecast for 2027 has also
been reduced from 2.8% growth to 1.2%. Housing remains
the sectors greatest concern. Private housing output is
forecast to decline by 7% during 2026, while private
housing repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) is
expected to fall 8%/” Meanwhile, economic indicators
provide only limited encouragement.
TDUK members report that the economic climate is
impacting customer purchasing decisions. “Customers are
purchasing timber closer to requirement, reducing
stockholding where possible and delaying decisions until
projects become more certain,” it says. “[This creates]
additional challenges for forecasting, inventory
management and production planning.”
Those canvassed for the Briefing also raise the issue of
mounting fuel and other costs.
“The difficulty facing businesses is that it is often difficult
to recover these costs elsewhere in the supply chain, or to
pass every cost increase on to consumers while demand
for products remains weak,” it says. Absorbing a
proportion of those costs may be necessary short-term, it
adds, but highlights the pressure that prolonged market
weakness is placing on profitability.
While addressing the significant challenges facing the UK
timber trade, the Market Briefing also provides evidence
of longer-term confidence in the industry, notably in the
role the timber sector will play in helping deliver lower-
carbon construction. At the same time the
government/industry Timber in Construction Roadmap
provides a framework for increasing use of wood in the
built environment.
Throughout the Market Briefing, concludes TDUK CEO
David Hopkins, one message comes through consistently
from businesses is that ‘confidence drives investment,
investment drives construction, and construction drives
growth’. “The fundamentals of our sector remain strong,
with timber playing an increasingly important role in
delivering sustainable, high-quality buildings,” he said.
“The challenge is to create the conditions that allow that
stalled potential to be realised. If we can, the timber
industry is well placed to help deliver the homes, jobs and
economic growth the UK so badly needs.”
See:- https://timberdevelopment.uk/resources/tduk-market-
briefing-q2-2026/
and
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/timber-in-
construction-roadmap-2025/timber-in-construction-roadmap-
2025
Challenging times in UK hardwood market
The consensus among traders canvassed for an article by
the UK Timber Trades Journal (TTJ) is that the country’s
hardwood market is tough and unpredictable. A slow
economy, with the British Chambers of Commerce on 1
September predicting 2026 GDP growth of just 1%, rising
to 1.3% in 2027 and the ongoing travails of UK
construction, with housebuilding in 2026 forecast to
contract 10% by the Construction Products Association,
are making business challenging.
Hardwood traders told TTJ that the more promising start
to the year they experienced, has not persisted. Where
companies are making progress, it’s largely through their
own initiatives. Some have also been helped by picking up
business and, in some cases, the personnel of competitors
that have closed or downsized.
“It is so volatile and difficult to forecast,” said an
importer. “We recently listed customers doing more
business with us this year but had an equal and opposite
list of those doing less.”
That said, they added, sales were up on last year. On
African supply, UK hardwood traders reported that
engineered products, notably, but not exclusively sapele
scantlings, are gaining ground.
“The big African hardwood suppliers in particular are
focused on adding value and sapele scantlings are now a
player in the market along with tali and okan decking.”
Another importer saw tali decking competing particularly
with ipe in the upper end of the market, but also to an
extent with bangkirai due to the latter’s supply issues and
rising price. On availability, they said, there were certain
gaps at individual African suppliers.
UK buyers say that fuel costs are a key issue for their
African suppliers, with their dependence on diesel for
kilning and in some cases power generally, plus of course
its impact on freight. However, prices are reported as
stable. Longer term, the view is that African species
diversification will happen.
“The forests are reported to just not be regenerating
enough of current main species, notably sapele and iroko,
but with other faster growing types like frake and ayous”.
European hardwood suppliers to the UK are said to be
suffering from the slowdown in Chinese demand for lower
grades. Oak availability is reported as good, although log
quality say some continues to decline. Despite this, prices
remain firm.
As for the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) which
comes in on December 30 for large EU operators and June
2027 for small and micro primary operators, hardwood
traders say it poses challenges. But most maintain they’re
ready for it. UK timber traders’ customers exporting to the
EU must comply, as will EU exporters to the UK.
“It’s going to be complex to administer as it covers so
many agricultural commodities, besides timber, but we
believe in the principle behind it,” said an importer-
distributor. “We support it and are doing what we can to
be ready.”
The outlook is that the UK hardwood market will continue
to be testing and that companies’ destiny will remain in
their own hands. “We’re buying what we need and not
speculating,” said an importer. “And we’re keeping close
to customers and suppliers. Things change so quickly, so
you must have the market intelligence in place to be
ready.”
See: https://www.britishchambers.org.uk/news/2026/09/bcc-
economic-forecast-weak-business-investment-hits-growth-
outlook/
and
https://www.ttjonline.com/
Timber sector applauds government housing
investment
The UK timber industry has welcomed the government’s
announcement of the release of nearly £10 billion to
‘kickstart social and affordable housebuilding across the
country’.
It has also applauded the government focus in its latest
policy paper on modern methods of construction (MMC),
where house assemblies are prefabricated in factories for
rapid erection on site. In the UK, timber is seen as a prime
material for this construction approach due to its ease of
processing and strength to weight, with many of the
leading housing developers having built of acquired
timber-frame production plants.
Increasing affordable and particularly government-
subsidised, low-cost ‘social rent’ housing is a key
ambition for new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham. On
assuming office, he promised the ‘biggest council house
building programme since the post (Second World) War
period.
Commenting on the UK’s low-cost housing shortage he
said: “No child should be raised in a hostel room, and no
family should wait ten years for a front door of their own.”
Another target of the initiative is to grow and improve
construction training provision in particular in modern
methods of construction.
“We have been driving innovative training programmes,
including directly in the housebuilding sector, through
skills development in MMC,” said the government. “We
will continue to explore how we can build on this progress
to support young people into employment and address
skills shortages and training.”
It said the new funding package would ‘deliver tens of
thousands of social and affordable homes across the
country in coming years’.
“This news comes as a welcome relief for the market. The
housing sector, and the supply chains that feed it, cannot
wait any longer for investment to flow,” said TDUK CEO
David Hopkins. “It is high time the government allocated
the capital – to let the industry get on with doing what it
does best.”
See –
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-social-and-
affordable-homes-programme-and-the-reinvigoration-of-council-
housebuilding/the-social-and-affordable-homes-programme-and-
the-reinvigoration-of-council-housebuilding#supporting-job-
creation-through-
and
https://timberdevelopment.uk/government-sahp-funding/
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