According to ITTO, the EU imported 2.04 million cu.m of sawn hardwood from outside the region in 2017, 13 percent less than the previous year.
EU imports of tropical sawn hardwood were 875,000 cu.m in 2017, which is 18 percent less than the previous year. Imports of tropical sawn hardwood last year were the lowest ever recorded by the EU, below the previous low of 930,000 cu.m in 2013 during the euro-zone crises and only around a third of the level prevailing before the global financial crises.
The value of EU imports of tropical sawn timber decreased by 16 percent to €653 million in 2017. The average unit value of tropical sawn hardwood imports into the EU in 2017 was €746 per cubic meter, up from €728 per cubic meter the previous year.
In 2017, EU imports of temperate sawn hardwood fell by 8 percent to 1.16 million cu.m. The more rapid pace of decline imports from the tropics meant that the share of tropical in total EU sawn hardwood imports fell from 46 percent in 2016 to 43 percent in 2017, an acceleration in the long term downward trend.
