Wood processing in the Irish Republic: A survey report.

Abstract

This paper describes a recent survey of wood-processing plants in the Irish Republic. The objective of the survey was to investigate the relationship between these enterprises and the rest of the rural economy, either through the purchase of input from, and sale of output to, other rural sectors, or through the maintenance of rural employment. Although the small-sized segment of the sawmill sector represents a very high proportion of total number of plants, it accounts for a very low share of total processing capacity (5%). Because of their lack of competitiveness in the major markets, the ability to identify and manipulate target markets is crucial to the small-size categories of sawmills. Large sawmills appear in the survey results as modern, low-cost, export-oriented wood processors. Medium-sized sawmills account for a third of total processing capacity, and their capacity utilisation is marginally better than that of small sawmills. However, the medium-sized plants lack the competitiveness of the large plants and the flexibility of the small plants. The prospects of this sector do not seem very favourable because its market share may be penetrated by larger, more efficient processors.