Parquet again seeing growth

The European Federation of the Parquet Industry (FEP) reports that its traditional member countries achieved production growth of 5.6 per cent for a volume of 65.8 mio m² in 2003. Inclusion of the new members from Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Romania as well resulted in a rise in production volume to 81 mio m², which also corresponds to a 5.6 per cent rate of growth compared with 2002. Crucial to this positive result were the strong increases in production achieved in Austria, Poland, Spain and Sweden.
Parquet production in the FEP member states in 2003(download .pdf-file)
Parquet production in the 'traditional' FEP countries(download .pdf-file)
The proportion of the production of multilayer parquet in the traditional FEP member countries rose to 78 per cent in 2003, whereas the share claimed by mosaic parquet fell by nearly 34 per cent to just two per cent of the overall production volume. Other types of parquet also suffered a decline, so that lamparquet only managed an 11.6 per cent share and solid parquet just 3.4 per cent. If the new members from Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Romania are included in this overview, the proportion of the total production volume taken by multilayer parquet drops to 73 per cent, though there is a rise in the share taken by mosaic parquet (5 per cent) and solid parquet (16 per cent).
Parquet production per type in 2003(download .pdf-file)
Sweden remains the biggest producer of parquet within the FEP (18.54 per cent), followed by Germany (12.76 per cent), Denmark, Finland and Norway (12.09 per cent combined), Poland (11.16 per cent), Spain (8.95 per cent) and France (8.88 per cent).
Sweden also has the highest per capita production at 1.67 m²/inhabitant, followed by Austria at 0.77 m² and Finland, Norway and Denmark combined at 0.65 m². The demand for parquet has seen a rise of 4.58 per cent to 84.1 mio m² in the traditional FEP countries. Growth was particularly high in Denmark, Finland and Norway. Spain has confirmed its position as an expanding market, and equally good results have been announced from Belgium. No sales figures are available yet for the more recent member countries.
Consumption of the 'traditional' FEP members in 2003(download .pdf-file)
The overall sales of parquet in the EU and EFTA countries (including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Greece and Portugal, who do not belong to the FEP) are estimated at over 95 mio m². The greatest share goes to Germany with 23.8 per cent (2002: 25.3 per cent), ahead of Spain with…