Locally produced saw softwood sales slid to 2,68 million m3 year-ended January 2024, down 7.8% compared with the year prior. Sales in January totalled 168,158 m3, down 13.3% on January 2023 and the lowest January since 2013.
All the key products saw sales fall, with some grades experiencing relatively modest declines, by contrast to the steeper falls recorded for some grades and for the aggregate volume. Landscaping sales totalled 101,435 m3 year-ended January, down 3.4% on the previous year and sales of Structural Untreated <120mm slowed 3.8% to 591,545 m3 over the same period.
Landscaping grades could be a timing issue, with a huge volume of housing working its way through the pipeline, it is possible the ‘back-end’ for new home-owners has driven some resilience in what are essentially garden products.
Although coming from a low base, the big increase in percentage terms over the year-ended January was Exports which totalled 62,535 m3, up 70.1%.
The annualised comparison data demonstrates it is the structural grades that have taken much of the pressure over the year.
As outlined earlier, sales of the Structural <120 mm grade fell 3.9% to 591,545 m3, but its sibling, the Treated Structural <120 mm grade saw sales down a more-hefty 9.5% (77,000 m3), to 581,441 m3. It has been some time since the Untreated product had stronger sales than the Treated product.
Even the largest sales grade – Packaging – saw sales down 8.2% over the year-ended January, with total sales falling to 616,404 m3.
