Euro Wood Flooring Production Up Slightly As Consumption Falls

Note: Production figures are in square meters.

The European Federation of the Parquet Industry recently said production in 2011 reached 761.1 million square feet, a 0.58 percent increase from 2010 figures. Meanwhile, consumption during that same period declined 1.65 percent to 984.6 million square feet. The federation characterized these figures as "more or less stable" with 2010 numbers, and they conceded that the continent's general picture for the industry is "not uniform, with considerable variations country to country" given the economic zone's ongoing economic tumult.

The FEP, as it is known by its European abbreviation, said Europe's wood flooring market, which peaked in 2007 with nearly 3 billion square feet in production, has stabilized, continuing an improved course that began in 2010 (in Europe, "parquet" refers to wood flooring in general). In 2011, "Important [production] increases in Switzerland, Hungary, The Netherlands, Denmark, Finland and Norway "balanced the sensitive situation in Spain and contributed to the stabilization of the sector." Top producers by percentage of market share in the FEP zone were Poland (17.61), Germany (14.63) and Sweden (13.26).

On the consumption side, Sweden, Austria and especially Germany realized "substantial increases"; however, the overall figure fell. Top consumers by percentage of market share included Germany (22.59), France (12.37) and Italy (10.49).

Oak is the dominant species in the FEP zone, comprising 66.7 percent of the wood flooring market, followed by tropical species (7.4 percent), ash (6.5 percent) and beech (6.1 percent).

Looking ahead, the FEP said, "We are living in times of global economy where market forecasts are often changing by the day, financial turmoils are on the weekly menu and making any kind of prognosis is an extremely ungrateful occupation." It added, "… a recovery is in sight, but the economic situation remains fragile, with still large disparities across member states."

Member countries in the FEP include Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Croatia (HR), Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Estonia (EE), Finland (FIN), France (FR), Germany (DE), Hungary (HU), Italy (IT), Norway (NO), Poland (PL), Portugal, Romania (RO) Spain (ES), Sweden (SE), Switzerland (CH), The Netherlands (NL) and Turkey (TR).