I would like to share some interesting findings in a recent study by The Forest Research Group. This new study looked at the sharp increase in lumber exports from US markets to China. The study shows a tremendous increase in shipments of logs and lumber from the North American West Coast to China. The study looked at softwood log exports from Washington and Oregon where log volumes have increase from 1.5 MMBF (thousand board feet) in 2005 to 70.8 MMBF in 2009. That is an increase of over 4,300 percent. The numbers for 2010 are said to be higher but figures are not yet available from the source.
Softwood lumber exports to China show similar patterns. In general, logs from public forest in the western US and Canada cannot be exported. Since most timber in British Columbia is in public forest, Canadian exports are therefore mostly in the form of lumber, not logs.
What has caused the surge in exports? There are two contributing factors. The first is the collapse of US housing starts. The second is the log export tariff imposed by Russia which has caused a decrease in logs shipped from Russia to China.
These dramatic increases are impressive. What is even more exciting is that these numbers are not even at all-time highs! The good news is that the demand for lumber is going up and that is great news for timberland owners! China Exports in Perspective and US Lumber Hoisted by China Sales are two articles that give detailed graphs and information regarding the timber exports to China.
(Lutz, Jack. 2011, China Exports in Perspective, Forest Research Notes, Volume 7, Number 3.)
(Carlton, Jim, 2011, US Lumber Hoisted by China Sales, The Wall Street Journal, February 8, 2011)
No comments:
Post a Comment