Global wood consumption hits lowest rate in the decade in 2019

• The growth in global wood consumption has increased by only 0.3% in 2019, the lowest rate in the past decade;
• Since 2016, when the growth in wood consumption was about 3.7%, the growth rate has gradually decreased and si now close to zero; 
• The continuous increase in supply and weak demand growth in recent years has resulted in inflated inventories in almost all major timber importing countries.

In 2019, global wood consumption increased by only 0.3%, the lowest rate in the past decade. According to statistics, the average annual growth rate of wood consumption in the past 20 years was 2.2%. In recent years, the growth momentum has gradually weakened and is approaching to the inflection point of negative growth.

The data tells everything-the wood consumption in 2018 has increased by only 1% compared with 2017, and in 2017 and 2016, the increase rate was about 3.7%, while the growth rate in 2019 is close to zero. The continuous increase in supply and weak demand growth in recent years has resulted in inventories in almost all major timber importing countries in 2019 being significantly higher than average.

In 2019, Europe (except Russia) and North America (except Mexico) each account for 29% of the global timber consumption market, and China accounts for 19%. In other words, China, the United States, Canada, and Europe account for more than 75% of global wood consumption.

Japan and Russia account for approximately 4.2% and 2.8% of total wood consumption. Brazil, Australia and Chile account for about 4.7% of the total timber consumption. To put it another way, in terms of the proportion of consumption on all continents, North America's share is about 30%, Europe's share is about 29%, and Asia's share is about 26%.

The slowdown in demand growth in major global economies and the opening up and growth of supply in emerging world countries will further raise the timber market inventories, and the state of imbalance in timber supply and demand will become increasingly serious. The era of hard-to-find wood may be difficult to reproduce.