The positive market outlook predicted for the second half of 2012 during last year‘s survey of veneer companies by the German Timber Trade Federation (GD Holz) failed to materialise. Two thirds of companies contacted for the survey had anticipated that business would remain satisfactory in the remaining months of 2012 according to the survey published in September. According to the latest GD Holz veneer survey published in July 2013, respondents tended to see business weaken in the second half of last year. Three quarters of the 34 companies participating in the survey described the second half of 2012 as satisfactory to unsatisfactory. This assessment did not alter much in the first few months of this year, either. The prospects for the remainder of 2013 are also muted.