About Us

The Association of the Austrian Wood Industries represents the interests of almost 1,300 wood processing companies in the timber construction products, furniture, panel, sawmill and ski industries.

With about 28,000 employees, the wood industry generates products worth 11.45 billion euros and a foreign trade surplus of 1.79 billion euros.

Within the wood value chain, the wood industry is a key sector and the starting point for many other uses for wood. More than 320,000 people are employed along the wood value chain.

 

Value chain forestry and wood industry

The companies in the forestry and wood industry generate a direct gross value added of 11.3 billion euros and thus account for a 3.2 percent of Austria's total economic output.

In the entire value network of the forestry and wood industry, the gross value added of more than 20 billion euros is achieved. The forestry and timber industry generates every 17th euro of the of Austria's gross value added.

Along the value chain of the forestry and wood industry, 300,000 jobs are secured. Every 15th job is attributable to the forestry and the timber industry.

8.7 billion euros in taxes and levies are directly and indirectly generated by the companies of the forestry and wood industry.

 

The Association of the Austrian Wood Industries

We represent interests

We represent the interests of our members at national and international level. Our goal is to create framework conditions that promote growth, secure employment and strengthen the wood industry, the entire wood value chain and Austria as an industrial location.

We lobby national and international political decision-makers for targeted and practical measures and actively participate in legislative processes. The association promotes the concerns and positions of the wood industry to the public and the media.

In the interest of our members, we are involved in numerous European associations. Together with the associations from Scandinavia and Germany, we are the pacemaker and competence leader in the EU. To strengthen the representation of interests, the trade association works in topic-specific platforms and cooperates with other trade associations as well as foreign associations.

We are information brokers

We inform our members promptly, quickly and with a high level of professional competence about new legal and administrative requirements and their effects. We also support member companies with individual technical and legal questions. In addition, we offer our members common platforms for networking and exchanging information.

We are service providers and networkers

Austria's timber industry is strong in exports and successfully active worldwide. We act as a door-opener for our members at national and international level. We provide business promotion for access to new markets and support marketing and awareness raising for wood products and wood use with proHolz.

Every year, as social partners, we negotiate the collective agreement with the trade union Bau-Holz and the trade union of private employees as the sector-specific legal basis for the rights and obligations of employees. The result of the negotiations determines future wage and salary increases as well as framework legal conditions.