As expected in a housing boom, imports of mouldings, decking and related products have surged across several grades in the last two years. Coniferous moulding imports are up a solid but unremarkable 7.6% year-ended November, while broadleaved hardwood tongue and groove lifted 145.2%. There is however, some churn in hardwood market definitions that warrants consideration.
In total, imports of mouldings lifted 9.8% over the year-ended November, totalling 347,822 m3. Of that total, coniferous mouldings accounted for 201,869 m3, up 9.3% and driving the total to these new heights. The chart below shows these imports in blue. The significant supplier – around 58% of the total – remains China.
To go straight to the dashboard and take a closer look at the data, click here.
The tropical hardwood tongue and groove grade – shown in green above, has fared quite differently over the last year. Imports declined 18.2% year-ended November, totalling 75,604 m3, down around 17,000 m3 on the prior year. The main supplier remains Indonesia, from which most of the supply is merbau.
Shipments from Indonesia fell 21.2% over the year, slipping back 17,000 m3 to total 63,079 m3. It is clear that shipments from Indonesia account for all this grade’s import decline over the last year.
This micro-saga does not end here however.
Imports of the very similar broadleaved hardwood tongue and groove grade rose 145.2% over the same period, lifting to 51,158 m3. The main supplier for the year – as the chart below shows – was Indonesia, shipments from which lifted more than 360% to 27,179 m3, up around 21,000 m3 on the prior year.
Our surmise is that some reclassification of imports (and probably it is an inadvertent misclassification) from Indonesia has occurred, with the total volume of tropical and broadleaved tongue and groove lifting from around 113,000 m3 to approximately 127,000 m3 over the year.
To go straight to the dashboard and take a closer look at the data, click here.
