After a largely satisfactory market trend in the third quarter, Austrian manufacturers say their sales opportunities for softwood lumber had deteriorated again noticeably by the middle of November. Demand on the Austrian sawmilling industry’s key markets is currently being described by most as very slack. In Italy in particular, but also in Germany, the Levant, the Middle East, and Japan, business activity remains well short of the expectations. Besides regressive building figures, evidently also having an effect here is the weak general economic environment.