Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials

NACE 16

Current registrations 3,351

Starters, 12 months 1895.6 per 100 · Belgium 8.8

Bankruptcies, 12 months 133.9 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2

Employment (FTE) 9,894374 employers · latest accounts

Median age 10.8 yearsBelgium 8.1 years

Activities

NACE division 16 · 11 activities

Activity	Registrations	Starters, 12 months	Bankruptcies, 12 months	FTE
Manufacture of other builders' carpentry and joinery16230	1,551	50	7	2,198
Manufacture of other wood products16281	761	75	1	1,462
Sawmilling and planing of wood16110	652	12	2	1,770
Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials16240	123	3	2	1,285
Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials16210	102	1	1	3,074
Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials16282	53	5	0	61
Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials16250	51	4	0	-
Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials16120	43	23	0	16
Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials16220	37	0	0	29
Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials16270	23	13	0	-
Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials16260	3	3	0	-

Filed accounts

NACE division 16 · financial year 2025 · 1,379 filed annual accounts

Median solvency

43.1%

Belgium 46.1%

Median net result

€14,260

Belgium €16,539

Median equity

€164,202

Belgium €98,485

Loss-making

27.2%

Belgium 26.7%

Negative equity

10.7%

Belgium 12.4%

Median return on equity

9.7%

Belgium 15.9%

Median liquidity

1.69

Belgium 1.66

Filed late

37.4%

financial year 2024 · Belgium 38.4%

Per financial year	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Median solvency	-	-	37.6%	38.4%	39.3%	41.8%	43.5%	43.1%
Median net result	-	-	€14,166	€17,099	€15,977	€13,586	€12,385	€12,869
Filed late	40.0%	43.7%	42.9%	43.1%	40.7%	36.6%	37.4%	-

Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 16

343 employers

Median

€56,900

Belgium €61,400

Middle half

€49,200 to €66,100

half of the employers lie between

Place among sectors

63 of 78

sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first

By size class
Size	Median	Middle half	Employers
fewer than 10 FTE	€56,500	€48,100 to €65,900	174
10 to 49 FTE	€57,400	€51,000 to €65,600	141
50 to 249 FTE	€60,500	€49,800 to €67,300	23

Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered

1.37% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%

Bankruptcies per year in division 16

Per year	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
Bankruptcies	29	16	16	19	11	17	10	12	17	13	10	13
Jobs lost	66	245	67	121	23	62	29	16	28	23	56	139

2026 through August. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.

Recent bankruptcies

Date	Company
29-07-2026	SMART WORK SYSTEMS BE 0783.851.159
23-07-2026	Panelo Benelux BE 0744.601.989
26-06-2026	Palettes export BE 0746.409.159
04-06-2026	Delrue Livin BE 0775.712.859
07-05-2026	REGITOIT BE 0746.780.531
20-04-2026	Lybaert, Dylan BE 0561.775.005 · sole trader · Sint-Laureins
10-04-2026	De Roose BE 0726.983.029
04-03-2026	GRIPA INVEST BE 0824.188.016

Every bankruptcy in division 16, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 1,764 of 3,351 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat

Flanders 1,205 · 68.3%
Wallonia 473 · 26.8%
Brussels 75 · 4.3%
Abroad 11 · 0.6%

West Flanders WVL 298

East Flanders OVL 277

Antwerp ANT 304

Flemish Brabant VLB 115

Limburg LIM 211

Brussels BRU 75

Hainaut HAI 108

Walloon Brabant WBR 57

Namur NAM 91

Liège LIE 162

Luxembourg LUX 55

fewer moremax 304

This sector's balance sheets on the map, by municipality and down to the address

Largest employers

NACE division 16 · staff from the latest accounts

1 UNILINWielsbeke 2,113 FTEfinancial year 2025
2 Foresco BEGenk 455 FTEfinancial year 2025
3 PIERRETLibin 308 FTEfinancial year 2024
4 Entreprise de Travail adapté 123 - Atelier protégé de BeauraingBeauraing 268 FTEfinancial year 2025
5 DECOSPANMenen 259 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 579 companies

126 Furnishing and woodworking 225
200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 216
124 Construction 192
125.02 Wood industry 64
125.03 Timber trade 23
100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 17
125 Wood industry 16
111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 15

Show the 12 others

201 Independent retail 15
209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 13
125.01 Wood industry 6
116 Chemical industry 5
140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 5
207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 4
142.04 Recovery of raw materials 3
145 Horticulture 3
226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 3
302 Hotels and catering 3
146 Forestry 2
327.01 Sheltered and social workshops 2

Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.

4 of the 1,539 companies in NACE division 16 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: United Kingdom (1), Netherlands (1) and Sweden (1). Together they employ 2,280 of the division's 9,895 FTE: 23%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number

Flemish subsidies €39.2m awarded 356 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Erkenning en subsidiëring als maatwerkafdeling
Federal transfers 10,000 amount as published 1 recipient · 2023 · largest: Toelagen aan verenigingen houden zich bezig met de bescherming en de bevordering van de KMO’s en de Zelfstandigen
Wallonia-Brussels Federation €4,860 paid 1 recipient · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Projets particuliers d'animation d'organisation de jeunesse, de centres de jeunes et d'associations non reconnues
EU budget €480,451 attributed share 1 recipient · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Horizon Europe
EU research €622,919 EU contribution 1 recipient · 2021 to 2026 · largest: Horizon 2020

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Wood and cork

Balance sheet and result. Return on equity of 9.7% is below Belgium's 15.9%. The median net result of €14,260 is below Belgium's €16,539. 10.7% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium.

Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 3.9 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 52% of the 87 other NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.5% is above Belgium's 0.2%. By size, the median bankruptcy probability is 0.5% at under 10 FTE and 0.2% at 10 to 49 FTE.

Inflow and structure. In 12 months, 5.6 of 100 companies started, against 8.8 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 64% of the 86 other NACE divisions. Half of the companies are younger than 10.8 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. Wallonia holds 27.0% of the seats, against 22.7% in Belgium.

Staff and filing. The 5 largest employers hold 3,403 of the 9,894 FTE: 34.4%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 37.6% in financial year 2020 to 43.1% in financial year 2025. In 2024, Statbel counted 13 bankruptcies and 23 jobs lost, against 11 bankruptcies in 2019.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 05-11-2026 05:30.

Method and sources

Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 16 exists.

The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,275,887 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,448 registrations publish no activity.

Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline.