Wood processing, which largely saved the entire manufacturing industry last year, will again have a major impact on the sector's overall results this year. The global crisis had a surprisingly favourable impact on the demand for wood products. There will be no need to worry about sales opportunities this year either, but a particularly major challenge in this sector will be the capacity to produce. The volume of timber available for purchase in state forests will be lower than last year, which processors will start to feel from the second quarter onwards. Although there are hopes of compensating for this with purchases from private forest owners and imports, the output of sawmills in real terms will almost certainly decrease this year. Furthermore, there are risks in the import of raw materials; for example, there are concerns that Russia could restrict the export of unplaned and undried sawn timber. Our timber industry imports not only roundwood from other countries, but also such low-cost intermediate products, which are then converted into higher value-added products. However, in financial terms, this could be a good year for sawmills, as sales prices are very high. On the other hand, companies further processing industrial timber that do not have long-term procurement contracts could find themselves in a significant price squeeze, as their customers will not want to compensate for the rise in costs.

The story of the intense and strained life of the wood processing industry is an illustration of the difficulties faced by other sectors as well. The coronavirus has created massive waves in the ocean of the global economy, which will continue to rock for a long time, collide with each other, burst under their own weight, and thoroughly drench everyone sailing across the ocean. It will be difficult to understand what is happening because what is occurring in the deep troughs between the waves is not clearly visible. This will be an interesting, but also anxiety-filled year.