The business climate in the German wood industry remained clearly negative in September 2024. The current business situation and business expectations for the wood industry as a whole are equally negatively assessed by companies. However, business expectations for the next six months are worse than the assessment of the current situation in four out of six sub-sectors. In view of the numerous negative economic reports recently, companies seem increasingly pessimistic about a rapid economic recovery.

From the HDH's point of view, this is mainly due to the declining demand for construction as a result of high construction costs, poor financing conditions and inadequate funding for new construction. The number of approved single- and two-family houses fell by 26.5% in the first seven months of 2024 compared to the same period last year and the number of multi-family houses fell by 23.2%. The significant drop in the inflation rate in Germany could have a positive effect in the coming months. The propensity to save, which rose again month, had a dampening effect on the recovery in the consumer climate. The slight improvement in the consumer climate is likely to have a positive effect on the development of the consumer-related segments of the wood industry in the coming months.