Baltic Export, EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Markets and Companies, Woodwork

Timber and timber products made up the bulk or 84.5% (85.5% a year ago) of total forestry product exports in January-September 2020, accounting for EUR 1.58 billion and dropping 8.5% year-on-year.

Timber exports in the first nine months of 2019 included EUR 479.067 million worth of sawn timber, down 13.5% year-on-year. Firewood exports dropped 2% year-on-year to EUR 326.182 million and exports of plywood declined 3.7% to EUR 168.65 million in the nine months of this year.

Exports of wooden furniture declined 1.1% to EUR 126.577 million, making up 6.8% of total exports (6.3% a year ago), and exports of paper, cardboard and their products grew 6.2% to EUR 98.306 million, making up 5.3% (4.6% a year ago) of total forestry product exports.

In January-September, Latvia supplied forestry products mainly to the UK (17.3%), Estonia (13.8%) and Sweden (9.7%).

Compared to the first nine months of last year, exports to the UK decreased by 12.3% to EUR 324.502 million, exports to Estonia grew 5.9% to EUR 258.611 million and exports to Sweden dropped 22.5% to EUR 182.309 million.

In the first nine months of 2019, Latvia exported EUR 2.018 billion worth of forestry products.

In January-September 2020, Latvia imported EUR 694.577 million worth of forestry products, which is 3.2% less than in the first eight months of 2019. Timber and timber products made up most or 59.8% of total forestry product imports in January-September (60.5% a year ago), accounting for EUR 415.31 million and declining by 4.3% from January-September 2019.

Sawn-timber imports dropped 13.5% year-on-year to EUR 114.301 million, round timber imports declined 5.8% to EUR 69.853 million, while firewood imports increased 11.3% to EUR 59.013 million.

Paper, cardboard and their products accounted for EUR 214.362 million of Latvia's forestry product imports in January-September, up.03% compared to the first nine months of 2019. These products made up 30.9% (29.8% a year ago) of total forest product imports in January-September.

Lithuania supplied the largest amount of forestry industry products to Latvia in January-September, accounting for EUR 126.62 million, or 18.2% of total forestry industry imports. Belarus supplied EUR 125.024 million worth of products, or 18%, and Poland supplied products for EUR 79.139 million, or 11.4%.

In January-September last year, Latvia imported EUR 717.196 million worth of forestry products.