The European Parquet Federation (FEP) announced that consolidated figures of parquet consumption for 2022 depict a moderate decline by 2.8 percent and the second highest level of consumption of the last 10 years. After a booming year in 2021 (+8 percent), the European consumption of parquet fell by almost 3 percent in 2022, especially during the second part of the year. Most of the countries report decreases in consumption, but not the main European market – Germany – which still progressed in 2022.
With staggering energy bills and inflation, consumers’ confidence was very low, meaning spending was focused on essential needs. The production in FEP territory decreased by 4.69 percent in 2022 and fell to 78 million square meters. The European production outside FEP countries is at an estimated 14.3 million square meters – 7.3 million square meters produced in EU countries and 7.0 million square meters in European non-EU countries.
Taking into account the total production in Europe (FEP countries + non-FEP countries in Europe) implies that production in 2022 dropped by almost 5 percent to 92 million m². Consumption in FEP areas fell by -2.80 percent, which is significantly less than what was forecast last January. Consumption reached 87,116,000 m².
The 2022 total parquet production per type remains similar to the picture already presented from 2010 onwards, whereby multilayer comes in first with 83 percent (compared to 83 percent in 2021), being followed by solid at 15 percent (compared to 15 percent in 2021), and mosaic with a stable 2 percent of the total cake. In production figures by country, Poland reinforces its top position at 17.76 percent. Austria with 13.85 percent takes the second place on the podium from Sweden (12.57 percent). Germany comes in as fourth (9.38 percent).
In terms of consumption per country, Germany consolidates its first position with 22.40 percent. Italy at 11.27 percent and France at 9.20 percent are ahead of Sweden (9.08 percent). Switzerland (7.50 percent) takes the fifth position from Austria (6.89 percent), which is followed by the Nordic Cluster (6.76 percent) and Spain (6.01 percent). Regarding the per capita parquet consumption, Austria, Switzerland, Estonia, Croatia, and Sweden lead the ranking. In the total FEP area, the consumption per inhabitant falls slightly from 0.21 m² in 2021 to 0.20 m2 in 2022.
The usage of wood species in 2022 indicates that the share of oak increased slightly to 82.1 percent compared to 81.9 percent in 2021. Tropical wood species represent 2.0 percent of used wood (although the category “other” at 3.2 percent could, partly, be added to tropical wood). Ash and beech are still the two other most common chosen species with 5.3 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.
The European parquet markets show generally significant negative evolutions for the first quarter 2023 compared to the same period last year. As expected, the boost coming from renovation has reached an end while the decrease in new building construction, reflecting increasing costs and interest rates, has started to have tangible and negative effects which will be felt in 2023-2024. All in all, as observed for most of the flooring types, the significant decline of the parquet consumption on the European market during the first quarter 2023 compared to the first quarter 2022 can be evaluated at -20-30 percent. A restart of activity is cautiously forecast for after the summer break.
Existing issues, which have been reinforced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the measures taken by the EU, are still present: supply of strategic raw materials such as wood, inflation, energy crunch… Purchasing power and thus consumption have been impacted by the situation, the competitiveness of the overall European industry as well.
In this context, FEP through the Circular Choices Coalition, which consists of 14 European woodworking associations and six supporters from the forestry sector, calls for a more competitive and ambitious EU Bioeconomy. The aim is to present EU policymakers with an ambitious common vision ahead of 2030, leading to a transition towards a Circular Bioeconomy. The whole process targets EU working agenda 2024-2030, meaning the agenda of the European Commission and Parliament to be set after the 2024 elections.