How the war in Ukraine will effect flooring

The ongoing Russian war on Ukraine and the responding sanctions on Russia have begun to effect the pricing and supply of engineered wood flooring produced in Western Europe, Canada, and the United States.

Russia and Finland are the largest global producers of the Baltic Birch plywood used in engineered wood flooring. Russia exports over 25% of Baltic Birch used globally and roughly 10% of the US market. 

With the announcement that countries in Western Europe, Canada, and the United States can no longer import wood and agricultural products from Russia, new supply will be halted and we expect to see a price increase in available products as a result. 

Over the past 2 years, supplies were already depleted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many manufacturers have been struggling to build back their inventories to keep up with increased demand. For many flooring industry chemical and adhesive manufacturers, supply shortages experienced today are the result of a perfect storm that included a pandemic, a labor shortage, and a literal storm, as well. When Winter Storm Uri struck Texas in February 2021, it shut down and damaged numerous key manufacturing plants that are heavily relied upon to produce silanes and polyurethanes in the wood flooring industry.

These new developments will cause further damage to the industry. 

Lumber prices, meanwhile, increased 14% in the weeks following the Russian invasion, climbing to $1,452 per thousand board feet, 15% below the all-time peak in May 2021, according to a report by Markets Insider. On top of the price surges already being experienced, Ken Simonson of the Associated General Contractors of America predicted further price hikes for construction materials as a result of the war in Ukraine, noting metals, fuel, and trucking have already been impacted, “while supply chains have become even more snarled.” 

Potential sanctions could have major impacts on engineered wood flooring manufacturers who rely on plywood materials from Russia.

 “Russian-made plywood or timber is commonly used as core material for engineered hardwoods made in Asia, Europe and the U.S.,” says Brian Carson, president and CEO of Mountville, Pa.-based AHF Products. AHF, one of the largest manufacturers of hardwood flooring, sources its engineered cores primarily from Cambodia and South America, and only a “very small portion” of its cores are sourced from Russia, Carson says.

“The vast majority of our domestic engineered hardwood production use U.S. materials with the capabilities to replace imported core materials,” Carson says. With other options available, AHF is well-positioned to weather supply chain disruptions when it comes to Russian-produced plywood, Carson adds, noting that manufacturers “around the world will have to adjust to other options due to this supply chain disruption.”

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Our team will continue to monitor the situation and do our best to keep our customers up to date on availability and pricing.

We appreciate your business as we navigate these challenging times. 

WRITTEN BY KELLY STROSS