Austrian company HS Timber Group (previously known as Schweighofer) announced that it reached an agreement to sell its lumber mill HS Timber Productions Sebes to the German group Ziegler. The contract was signed on April 14, 2023.

The Austrian company said that its expansion in Romania was limited by the market regulator that set in 2016 a 30% cap on its purchase of national wood volumes per assortment, G4media.ro reported. But the scarce imports of raw materials from Ukraine was another factor.

Romania’s wood processing industry has constantly contracted since 2016, reaching in the first two months of 2023 activity levels of under 50% of the 2015 average.

The deal is expected to be completed in the middle of the year following regulatory approvals. The purchase price was not disclosed.

HS Timber Productions Sebes is the first production unit owned by Schweighofer in Romania. HS Timber Group also operates in Romania another lumber mill, a panel factory and a lamellar beam production unit.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Hs.at)