EU tropical hardwood log imports fall to lowest level ever

The latest EU trade data indicates that imports of tropical hardwood logs into the region have continued to fall during the course of 2010. Overall imports during the first nine months of 2010 amounted to only 253,300 cu.m, 22% down compared to the same period in the previous year. The big decline in imports from Gabon following the country’s log export ban imposed from May 2010 has been only partially offset by increasing imports from other countries in the Congo basin.

The quarterly data indicates that the ceasation of Gabon as a supplier of tropical hardwood logs to the international market in the first half of 2010 did not lead to any significant increase in European imports of this commodity from other countries during the third quarter of the year. EU-25 imports of tropical hardwood logs during July to September 2010 amounted to 65,000 cu.m, almost certainly the lowest quarterly volume ever recorded and only a quarter of the level recorded 2 years before.