Research
For many decades, Swedish pine was a popular choice in the international market. In recent years the tide has turned and suppliers of pine products have lost sales and market share. Industry organisation Swedish Wood has, however, begun to see indications that the negative trend is shifting and pine is becoming more on-trend. Producers of pine products are therefore keen to gain a clear picture of market requirements and expectations when it comes to interior wood products.
This report is a summary of a study conducted as part of the research and development programme BioInnovation – Biobased Construction and Housing of the Future as part of the sub-project Market Conditions and Business Models. The overarching aim of the sub-project is to identify the market’s range of requirements and expectations relating to interior wood products for construction and housing, with a specific focus on pine. The study summarised here helps to meet this aim by examining customer preferences for exposed wood in various markets.
The study took the form of a questionnaire in seven European countries: Sweden, Norway, the UK, Poland, Germany, France and Spain. The purpose of this spread was to provide a broad picture of the markets and to investigate whether the preferences for wood/pine vary between countries. Just over 7000 responses were received, with the respondents constituting a nationally representative sample of women and men aged 20-65 in each country.
The organisers of the study are industry organisation Swedish Wood, Linköping University and Luleå University of Technology. The study was conducted as part of the research and Swedish innovation programme, BioInnovation.
