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Products Trade North America Europe South America Asia Forests of the World Australia Brazil Canada Chile China Finland Germany Indonesia Japan Korea Mexico Russia United Kingdom Oregon's Forests Forestry Links |
United States The United States is the world's second largest forest products exporter, totaling U.S.$17 billion worth of exports in 1997 (including paper products). However, the value of imports actually exceeded exports, making the U.S. the world's biggest forestry importer, at $22 billion in 1997. Most timber in the U.S. goes to residential construction. ~95% homes in U.S. use wood frame construction ~40% of softwood consumption goes to this sector ~Furniture and cabinets account for 32% of U.S. lumber consumption While much of the world suffered severe economic declines in 1998, the U.S. market managed to post strong growth despite falls in exports to Asia. 1997 and 1998 were record high years for U.S. softwood lumber consumption, which reached 120 million m3 per year, due to a strong housing market. Softwood Lumber  Source: Foreign Agriculture Service, USDA Over the last decade, U.S. softwood lumber production has fallen due to dramatic harvest limitations in the west. Only the last three years has seen modest gains in lumber production. Some of this is from increasing lumber production from the southern U.S.. However, the declines in the western region is unlikely to improve as federal forests remain closed. Softwood imports have increased to make up the shortfall in domestic supply. In 1998, U.S. softwood lumber imports hit a record high of 44 million m3. Canada is the main source of imported softwood lumber, with a 95% share. Canadian softwood lumber exports to the U.S. have been restricted since 1996 under an agreement between the two nations to limit the amount of duty-free softwood lumber imports. The agreement allows for 34.7 million m3 of softwood lumber to be exported each year from British Columbia Alberta, Ontario and Quebec without penalty fees. The agreement is in effect for five years, and its administrative complexity has already caused a considerable amount of tension between the world's two largest softwood lumber producers. Though softwood lumber imports from countries other than Canada is small, increases from certain countries have been significant. In particular, imported pine lumber from Brazil, Chile, and New Zealand have grown rapidly since 1996. Much of this goes to the moulding and millwork market. A robust domestic market, weaker demand from Asian countries such as Japan and Korea, and rising competition from growing softwood suppliers in eastern Canada, Scandinavia, New Zealand, and Chile have led to a drop in softwood lumber exports in recent years. Japan has traditionally been the largest importer of U.S. softwood lumber exports. U.S. lumber exports to Japan fell by 50% in 1998. Weak demand in Japan and stronger competition from Europe, where spruce laminated lumber has gained in popularity in Japan, accounted for the fall. 20% of softwood lumber exports go to Canada. Lumber exports to Australia have declined dramatically due to increased competition from radiata pine from New Zealand and Chile.  Hardwood Lumber Hardwood lumber is a much smaller segment of the U.S. market compared to the softwood sector. In 1997, production reached 31 million m3, less than half the volume of softwood lumber production. However, hardwood lumber is mainly destined for the furniture, kitchen and bath cabinet, flooring, windows, door frames, and moulding sectors. The hardwood flooring market for new houses has tripled in the last decade. Since 1990, hardwood lumber imports have doubled. Canada supplies 60% of U.S. imports of hardwood lumber. The remainder is mainly tropical hardwoods, with Brazil as the largest importer.  While only 10% of U.S. hardwood production is exported, the volume of hardwood lumber exported still exceeds the volume of hardwood lumber imported by more than 50%. Hardwood lumber exports are generally of higher grade and quality than those used domestically. A third of this goes to Canada, where it may be processed further.  Plywood and OSB U.S. consumption of structural panels--plywood and oriented strand board (OSB)--has grown significantly in the last ten years. Total consumption now exceeds 30 million m3 per year. Most of U.S. production of structural panels goes to the domestic housing market -- only 5% is shipped overseas, mainly to Europe, Canada and Japan. Exports have fallen recently. Plywood has lost market share to OSB. The U.S. consumption gap between OSB and Plywood is expected to grow as OSB emerges as the dominant structural panel consumed in the U.S.. OSB compares favorably to plywood in that it can utilization small diameter wood, is cheaper to produce, and is considerably cheaper than plywood.  Source: APA: The Engineered Wood Association The U.S. is the world leader in OSB production, but Canadian exports are much higher than U.S. exports. 95% of U.S. OSB imports come from Canada. Domestic consumption of OSB continues to grow and is expected to reach more than 20 billion square feet by 2002. To meet demand, the U.S. imports more than 6 mil m3 per year of OSB. This is a 150% increase over 5 years. Finished Products The finished wood products market--which includes furniture, flooring, beams, windows, doors, frames, moulding and millwork-- is a $28 billion industry. Moulding and millwork for buildings is the largest category of finished products. The U.S. consumes 5 million m3 of industrial and high-grade softwood lumber in the molding and millwork sector. Traditionally, ponderosa pine accounted for 75% of western U.S. raw material for moulding and millwork. Today, this has been increasingly substituted with lumber from New Zealand, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Only 6% of finished wood products market is imported, but imports have doubled since 1991. The biggest import sector is in mouldings (from South America and Mexico), and doors (from Asia). Softwood moulding imports are mainly from:
Hardwood moulding imports are mainly from:
Door imports reached $170 million in 1998. Hardwood doors account for a third of this segment, supplied mainly by Brazil and Asia. Wood window imports are very small, less than 1% of shipments. The reason is that wood windows are not painted but stained, and domestic ponderosa pine remains the best wood for this.  The U.S. is the world's largest net importer of furniture. Asia is the largest net exporter, led by Indonesia and Malaysia. The furniture market is forecast to reach $100 billion by 2000 for offices, kitchens and households. Imports are expected to account for 40% of this market. 75% of furniture imports is composed of wooden furniture components and parts. Future Trends These long-term trends are expected to continue in the U.S. forest products trade:
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