Charles Guyard, edited by Gauthier Delomez 06:25, March 11, 2022

The earthquake of the war in Ukraine provokes aftershocks even among the craftsmen.

With the economic blockade imposed by Europe vis-à-vis Russia, the prices of raw materials are seeing their prices soar, as in the wood sector where it is necessary to reorganize as quickly as possible.

Europe 1 went to meet artisans in Loire-Atlantique.

REPORT

In his vast shed near Nantes, in Loire-Atlantique, Damien Sicot works with wood.

The manufacture of a complete house is even on track to be signed next September, but due to the war in Ukraine and restrictions on European imports from Russia, the price of wood, like other raw materials , climb.

"Currently, we have a price that we are not sure of being able to preserve, and we are also not sure of the deadlines", underlines the craftsman at the microphone of Europe 1, which must therefore reorganize.

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Craftsmen face price hikes

The boss of Sinéco Charpente must review his commercial relationship.

"The quote is valid for 15 days. After 15 days, we are likely to update this quote," he notes.

This is also revised upwards from the start to absorb future increases, as explained by Laurent Coudray, who runs a cooperative centralizing wood purchases for craftsmen in the department.

"The real question today is how much prices will rise again," he said on Europe 1.

For Laurent Coudray, it is now necessary to find other suppliers, after having stopped its contracts with Russia where 20% of its goods came from.

However, he is not the only one.

"In turn, the volumes that today were imported from Russia will have to be imported from other countries, which will reduce the supply," explains the director of a cooperative.

There remains a major unknown: China.

If it in turn abandons Russia, and breaks into these new timber markets, a new price spike, or even saturation, would then be inevitable.