Business activity on the southern and western German softwood lumber markets was still being influenced by seasonal factors at the end of February 2010. Demand from buyers in the building industry and building-related sectors is still very much stop-and-go. Growing numbers of lumber manufacturers, however, are reporting an increasing frequency in requests for quotes from this sales segment.

It therefore seems that quite a number of building and joinery businesses have satisfactory levels of orders but these businesses had already run their lumber stocks down to a comparatively low level before the turn of the year.