The downturn in EU imports of wood and wood furniture products during the initial period of the COVID-19 pandemic may be less severe than first forecast. As expected, EU27 (i.e. excluding the UK) tropical wood and wood furniture product imports fell sharply in May in response to supply side problems and the lockdown measures in most of the main EU markets, losing around one third of value against the five-year average for the month.

However, imports were already recovering in June, a month which in a more typical year is when imports tend to slow before the summer holiday period (Chart 1).