The German wood industry is growing for the fifth year in a row. According to Johannes Schwörer, President of the Federation of the German Timber Industry (HDH), the industry recorded a significant increase in sales of 3% to around € 18.2 billion between January and June 2018. In the same period of the previous year, sales increased by only 1.6% to around € 17.7 billion. In view of the good industry situation, sales growth for the whole of 2018 for the German wood industry is also expected to increase by up to 3%.
The wood industry mainly consists of the wood industry and the furniture industry. Here, the turnover of the wood industry in the first half of 2018 grew significantly by 5.2% to € 8.6 billion. The furniture industry grew by 1% to € 9.1 billion. The growth of the furniture industry almost exclusively came from the successful export business. Domestic furniture sales stagnated.