In the specific case of Denderwood, it now appears that they hit the nail on the head there. Moreover, one underestimated a bit; a slight increase in sales was even recorded. This is something that one is obviously pleased about at this family business, which for more than a century has been one of the Belgian specialists in the import and processing of sustainable tropical hardwood from all over the world. To clarify: at Denderwood, terrace wood accounts for about 10 to 15% of the turnover figure.

Stable volumes
We are addressed by Hicham Chine, the right-hand man of CEO Filip D'Haeseleer. Together, we look back and try to unravel what the near future might hold. As icing on the cake, our interlocutor also highlights the how and why of major investments in Walloon Neufchâteau, in the province of Luxembourg.

"Actually, we can still say that the pandemic continues to affect the terrace market, but the effect is starting to taper off. Last year, we thought we would go back to 2019 volumes, but actually we scored even a bit higher," he says. "Why? That is more or less anyone's guess, but it is clear that lower prices had their impact. The prices for exotic wood from South America, for example, dropped significantly and Brazilian Massaranduba, for example, became much cheaper. In addition, we also benefited from a better exchange rate between the euro and the dollar and from more favourable maritime costs."

Hicham Chine does see a clear dichotomy in volumes during the past year. Things ran more or less normally until June-July 2023, but then a kink in sales figures followed. However, it was not dramatic and now the stars are again looking much more favourable.

"After the summer break, things became a bit more complicated. This was mainly due to banks starting to give less credit and raising their 'rates'. The logical consequence was a downturn in business."

"We should not make this more dramatic than it is, by now things are clearly running a bit better. What is noticeable, however, is that the normal start of trading wood for deckings now no longer fell in early September, but customers waited until November-December, due to a lower mood in the market. Moreover, everyone in the sector had sufficient volume in stock. In January 2024, we find that a number of contracts have been reconfirmed, at, moreover, better prices, and this for just about all origins. Only the supply from Africa remains complicated, although prices there are stable."

Fastest purchase: Belgium

Over to Europe: what about there?
"We noticed that Belgium started buying faster this year. Our country was clearly ahead of France and Germany is still moving slowly. Meanwhile, we also see the Netherlands catching up," Hicham Chine clarifies. "My feeling is that all these markets are also starting a bit later due to still longer transit times in the import trade. With that, I refer to the state of the Red Sea on the one hand and the influence of IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) interventions in South America on the other. Because of the slow checks of the latter, you have to reckon with two to even three months for cargoes leaving Brazil. I personally expect that at the start of the real decking season in March and April, we will have a small shortage of cargo, which could possibly create some tension on volumes."
"What I can add is that the tension will be mainly on the normal species. Think of ipé, cumaru, padouk or Tali. At the same time, we also see this as an opportunity to promote alternative species such as Mukulungu and Eveuss. Through showcasing these alternative species, we can somewhat circumvent the long delivery time for timber from South America."

Major investment in brand new plant in Neufchâteau
Denderwood built a brand new factory in Neufchâteau. After the first spade cutting in September 2022, the first trial run for planing followed in June 2023. At the end of August last year, the first products were delivered to Belgian customers and now, at the end of January 2024, the planning for the planing department was already packed for eight consecutive weeks. Naturally, we want to know why this investment was switched.
Hicham Chine: "The basic idea is that we needed a centrally located logistics hub in the heart of Europe. This should allow us to more easily access the German and French markets while consolidating the Belgian and Dutch markets. On site, we started a planing department, among other things. The idea behind this is to supply very high-quality products, which are in line with what we do at Denderwood. We used to work with around ten subcontractors, but this caused problems harmonising the different qualities, packagings, etcetera. Consequently, we had to step in, although we continue to support some of those subcontractors and maintain a long collaboration."
What is striking about the new site is how much effort is put into ethical and ecological working: "It goes without saying we want to limit the impact on the environment, while optimising the logistics chain. We aim to maximise returns by valorising certain sub-products and increasing the value of waste. All this leads to a serious reduction in the amount of CO2 emitted. This planing division is powered totally autonomously by means of 1.5 ha of solar panels. To which I would add, by the way, that with the new plant we have two orientations. On the one hand, there is the production of our own stock products; on the other hand, we also plane on customer demand."
Further explanations show that currently the first phase is behind us. A second and third phase will follow very soon.
"In the medium term, the construction of two additional, covered halls for storage will follow. Then there will also be an additional, open hall for the storage of African timber, which will be stabilised in it before delivery," Hicham Chine concludes.