EU imports of tropical sawnwood have continued to recover slowly in 2016 from the depths of recession in early 2013. There was a particularly significant surge in trade in the second quarter of this year, notably from Cameroon.
EU imports of tropical sawnwood in the first five months of 2016 were 460,000 cu.m, 11% more than the same period in 2015. There were significant gains in imports from a wide range of countries including Cameroon (+31% to 166,400 cu.m), Gabon (+20% to 50,200 cu.m), Congo (+21 to 24,300 cu.m), DRC (+28% to 13,200 cu.m), Indonesia (+40% to 11,800 cu.m), Ghana (+15% to 10,900 cu.m) and Suriname (+56% to 10,000 cu.m).
These gains offset a decline in imports from Malaysia (- 8% to 59,900 cu.m) and Brazil (-16% to 53,600 cu.m).
The rise in EU imports of tropical sawnwood in the first five months of 2016 was concentrated in Belgium (+22% to 147,000 cu.m), Italy (+27% to 61,800 cu.m) and Spain (+24% to 31,000 cu.m). Imports into other leading destinations, including Netherlands, France, UK, Germany and Portugal, were very similar to the level in 2015.