Sales of locally produced sawn softwood declined to 2.71 million m3 year-ended December 2023, down 7.1% over the previous period. Reported monthly sales for December totalled 170,262 m3, which was the smallest December month since 2012 when sales totalled 146,806 m3.
Overall, as the initial chart shows, the annualised trend for sales continues to point down, with sales reported for December demonstrably the lowest of any month in the last five years.
As the chart below shows, the decline in December sales has been progressive, coming off the all-time peak in December 2020.
In terms of key products, most experienced significantly lower sales, except for more moderate declines for Landscaping at 102,993 m3 (–1.82%) and Structural Untreated <120mm at 595,114m3 (–3.51%).
The big increase in percentage terms was Export, sales of which totalled 61,840 m3 (+73.37%) year-ended December 2023.
