The European Union is taking fewer logs, importing less plywood, and burning less wood pellets for fuel as uncertainty over tariffs and duties, persistently weaker construction demand, and tightening supply chains weigh on one of the world’s largest import markets for forest products. That is according to new data from Russian‑based Lesprom Analytics, which aggregates customs records from around the world and shows that shipments of logs, plywood, and pellets all contracted year‑on‑year in November, even as prices for several products began to rise.
As it stands, log imports into the 27 EU member states fell 16% to 429,300 cubic metres for the month, and despite the decline in volume, average import prices climbed to US $128 per cubic metre — a four per cent increase from October and a sharp rise from the US $101 recorded a year earlier. At the same time, plywood imports followed a similar pattern, falling 18% to 203,200 cubic metres, while prices eased slightly to US $533 per cubic metre.
And while plywood volumes are down two per cent from the previous month, prices remain above last year’s levels, underscoring the volatility gripping the market as Europe navigates on‑again/off‑again tariffs, anti‑dumping measures on Asian imports, and the cascading impacts of the EU’s new deforestation‑free regulation (EUDR). According to the International Softwood Conference in Oslo last year, Europe’s softwood industry has been “battered by years of falling production, rising raw‑material costs, and sluggish demand,” with construction activity across the continent remaining frustratingly subdued.
At the same time, wood pellet imports also contracted, slipping 14% to 351,400 tonnes, with prices (US $242 per tonne) 20% higher than 12 months ago. The European Union remains the world’s largest importer of pellets, but demand has softened after two consecutive mild winters, high stockpiles, and lower electricity prices reduced consumption at major biomass power plants. As Argus Media noted, “EU pellet imports have softened as high inventories and mild weather reduce demand from power generators.”
The downturn comes as Europe’s softwood supply chain — already weakened by years of falling production, rising material costs, and sluggish demand — warns that European (and UK) timber supply chains are entering a period of major transition. At the 73rd International Softwood Conference in Oslo, covered by Wood Central in October, leaders warned that the current environment is “exceptional uncertainty,” with long‑running structural inflation, and a two‑decade housing shortfall leaving the European Union, the United States, and China “underbuilt for about 20 years,” according to Morten Bergsten, vice‑president of the European Timber Trade Federation.
Nonetheless, many producers, in Europe and around the world, are pinning hopes on a construction rebound in 2026, arguing that falling inflation and pent‑up housing demand could finally lift consumption. “With inflation coming down, 2026 could be the year of recovery in the construction markets,” Bergsten told delegates. But he and others warned that elevated log prices and regulatory burdens — particularly the EU Deforestation‑Free Regulation — could blunt any upswing. “Regulation and bureaucratic burdens have increased sharply over the last few years,” he said. “This should stop or, ideally, reverse, for the sector to thrive.
