They were 15,000 in 1960, 5,000 twenty years later, and only 1,500 today.
Let us add that sawmills are small and family-owned, which has two consequences.
First, a problem of succession.
40 to 80 sawmills disappear each year, according to the National Timber Federation (FNB).
Then, they find it difficult to invest.
However, it is a very capital-intensive profession.
Several stimulus plans, pushed by the government, have been implemented for many years to relaunch this sector without ever being crowned with success because they stumbled over the two previous obstacles.
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With the growing demand from the construction world, the deficit of processed wood of French origin will become glaring.
And the bottleneck between the abundant forest and the users is indeed at the level of the sawmills.
“Today, in France, we import 30 to 40% of our needs,
” explains Nicolas Douzain-Didier, general delegate of the National Federation of Wood.
The deficit is more
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