Short: France's forest-wood industry shows mixed results in the second half of 2026: nurseries decline while sawmills advance thanks to exports, amid a slight contraction in GDP.

France's forestry and wood-processing sector enters the second half of 2026 on a highly uneven footing: forest nurseries are once again losing sales, while sawmills—buoyed by an export recovery—are markedly improving their results.

French GDP contracted slightly in the first quarter amid a high deficit and debt, creating a persistent budgetary constraint on support for forestry and construction. Even so, the sector's companies remain financially sound: strong profit margins could sustain investment in the short term.

At the European level, geopolitical tensions continue to unsettle energy and raw-material markets. The divergence between species is only widening: softwoods are in strong demand, oak is suffering from the cooperage-stave crisis, and beech is holding on to export markets amid intensifying competition.

Sales of forest seedlings fell again in 2024–2025, to around 53 million units. The cause is unfavourable weather and economic uncertainty, which have led forest owners and municipalities to postpone reforestation projects. Softwoods dominate the programmes (maritime pine, Douglas fir, Atlas cedar), prized for their resilience to climate change, but broadleaves have also exceeded ten million seedlings for the fourth year running—a sign of steady interest in diversifying plantings.

Standing-timber prices clearly illustrate the gap between species: white softwoods are rising appreciably on steady demand, while oak is falling markedly as cooperage orders decline. The National Forestry Office's prices for processed timber confirm the trend—gains for ash and softwoods, stability for beech, and a drop for oak. In private forests, sales volumes eased somewhat, yet average prices remain above pre-COVID levels, pointing to the market's structural resilience.

Sawmills geared to broadleaves grew their turnover in the first quarter mainly on the back of exports; softwood producers posted an even sharper recovery—on both domestic and international markets at once. Softwood-lumber imports have been shrinking for the fifth year in a row, easing the pressure on domestic producers. On the export side, oak logs are surging, supported by China (now nearly 40% of French oak's export markets); softwood-log exports are also rising, while beech is losing ground.

Construction is showing signs of recovery: housing starts are increasing, though the market remains fragile. The share of single-family homes is falling noticeably in favour of multi-unit and intermediate housing, while higher interest rates following the Gulf crisis are curbing demand. Against this backdrop, renovation is increasingly becoming the sector's strategic growth driver—above all for joinery, insulation and interior finishing. In the energy-wood segment, the benchmark forest wood-chip price is rising more slowly than in the previous three years, while firewood, industrial chips and pellets keep getting more expensive—despite a mild winter that should have dampened demand.