Echoing the general decline in construction activity,  European parquet consumption decreased significantly during the first half of 2023.

The Board of Directors of the European Parquet Federation, FEP, met on 18 October 2023, and discussed amongst others the parquet situation on the European markets.

All in all, parquet markets fell in all FEP countries during the first semester 2023 compared to the same period last year. Reported decreases range from 15% to 38%. The main reason behind is the low activity in the construction sector for both new buildings and renovation. Construction activity is hampered by uncertainties and high interest rates, which are not sufficient to contain inflation. Both European and imported parquet are impacted. On the other hand, there is still a demand for cheap alternatives to real wood flooring.

This situation is obviously affecting the level of activity.

As construction output is not expected to upturn soon and as parquet is coming at the end of the building process, improvements are not forecast before end 2024 at least.

A brief per country recap is provided in the table below.



 

Source: European Parquet Federation