The mood in companies in the German wood industry clouded over slightly in August. The assessment of the current situation improved to +45.6 points (previous month: +43.2 points). However, the outlook for the next 6 months was more pessimistic. The current value is +2 points (previous month: +7 points). In total, the HDH business indicator fell to +22.7 points in August (previous month: +24.4 points). For comparison: During the first wave of the pandemic, the HDH economic indicator was -59.4 points in April 2020. The second wave of the pandemic was overcome by the German timber industry after a slight decline in the business climate to -1.7 points in January 2021.
In view of the uncertain outlook for the further development of the pandemic, the mood in the individual segments of the timber industry is divided. Companies in the sawmill industry (+54.8 points), in the wood-based materials industry (+58.1 points), in the construction-related area of the wood industry (+64.1 points), in prefabricated wood construction (+46.8 points) and in of the wood packaging industry (+48.7 points) assessed their current business situation as positive. The current assessment of the business situation in the furniture industry (+32 points) is now positive against the background of the increasing domestic furniture demand and the good export business. However, the expectations for the next 6 months indicate different developments in the individual segments in the coming months.
The wood-based materials industry, the wood packaging industry and the furniture industry are currently more optimistic than other segments of the wood industry: They expect an improvement in the business situation in the coming half-year. The sawmill industry, the construction-related area of the wood industry and prefabricated wood construction, on the other hand, expect the situation to deteriorate in the next six months. From the HDH's point of view, this is not only due to macroeconomic causes, but also to the still difficult procurement of raw materials and materials as well as price developments. The delivery problems are not limited to wood for a long time, but affect many raw materials and intermediate products in the wood and plastics industry such as adhesives, fittings, steel as well as plastics and packaging.