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Report
from the UK
Weather forecast raises home building prospects
A strong housing market and buoyant commercial property sector have boosted growth in the construction
industry to its highest level for three years, according to a report by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.
However, Easter holidays resulted in a very quiet market during the first half of April, in spite of very good weather.
Housing starts have fallen back in the last few weeks, due according to some observers to the complexity of the planning system.
Retail sales rose across the UK in March, boosted by good weather, according to the British Retail consortium, with
DIY sales helping to boost the volume by 3.9%, compared with a year earlier. Kingfisher¡¯s B&Q saw its sales drop
by 3% in 2006. The DIY market in the UK continued to be
soft, despite a slight improvement in the last six months. An upbeat weather forecast for the next three months
indicates that outdoor DIY may gather momentum, with decking leading the way. Hopes are beginning to rise for a
good second quarter.
New UK procurement policy may reduce market access
The UK government has unveiled a new timber procurement policy which will come into force from 1
April 2009. The decision was apparently made without consultation with the Central Point of Expertise on Timber
(CPET), according to TTJ. According to analysts, this would create problems for a lot of producers who have
developed legality verification procedures in consultation with CPET.
All government projects, including the Olympics, will be required from April next year to procure timber that is
either sustainably produced or licensed under a voluntary partnership agreement (VPA). But from 1 April 2015, all
timber will have to be sustainably produced. Currently, the government recognizes only four certification schemes
giving evidence of sustainability, namely the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), Forest Stewardship Council
(FSC), Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and Sustainable Forestry Initiative
(SFI). The Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) is accepted as providing assurance of legally
logged timber.
The Timber Trade Federation welcomed the decision but expressed concern about the impact it might have on
countries and communities outside of the VPA arrangements. These suppliers would be excluded from the
UK market. According to analysts, the new policy could cause problems more in the hardwood and plywood
sectors rather than softwood, since the availability of certified hardwood and plywood is more restricted than
certified softwood.
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