From calendar week 15 onwards, an increasing number of German sawmill companies are planning to send employees on short-time working. According to a recent survey by the German Sawmill and Wood Industry Association (DeSH) on the effects of the corona crisis to date, 86.6% of the companies participating in the survey were working in normal operations in the last week of March, only 11.3% were or were planning to introduce short-time working and only 1.8% had already closed. For calendar week 15, the figure for plants in normal operation falls to 54.2%, while a further 42.9% are planning or will go into short-time working. The proportion of plants that will be closed increases to 2.9%. The main reasons for the production cutbacks are uncertainties in sawn and sawmill residue sales and personnel bottlenecks.
