High costs, shrinking supply: the pressure building in Poland’s timber sector

For more than a decade, Poland’s timber and woodworking industry has been one of the quiet engines of the national economy. Furniture, flooring, panels, paper and sawmill products helped turn Poland into a European manufacturing powerhouse, deeply embedded in continental and global supply chains. In several segments, Polish producers moved beyond the role of low-cost subcontractors and became market leaders in their own right. That success, however, is now under strain. Over the past two years, the sector has entered a phase of contraction that is broader, deeper and more persistent than previous downturns. Sales have fallen across ...