According to the German Federal Statistics Office (Destatis), China remains the country’s largest market for raw wood materials in 2020, with 6.4 million m3, accounting for about half of Germany’s total wood exports.
Exports of German raw wood materials to China have increased significantly since 2015. Austria was the second largest importer of German raw wood materials last year, accounting for a market share of about 19%. The construction boom during the COVID-19 pandemic has boosted demand for wood as a building material in Germany and abroad, according to Destatis.
Last year, Germany exported a total of 12.7 million m3 of raw wood, worth 845 million euros ($1.03 billion), up 42.6% year-on-year. The growing world demand for timber is reflected in the “record logging figures” in Germany.
According to Destatis, 80.4 million cubic meters of wood were cut down in German forests last year, the highest level since 1990.
Germany’s Federal Statistics Office (FSO) on May 7 released data showing that the country’s exports rose for the 11th consecutive month to March 2021, with export growth reaching 1.2%, twice as high as economists’ forecasts, despite the COVID-19 public health crisis.