U.S., Canadian Log-Lumber Exports to China up 150% in 2010
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The value of softwood logs and lumber exported from North America to China reached more than $1.6 billion in 2010, which was 150% higher than the previous year and more than 10 times as much as in 2006, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ), Seattle, Wash., USA.
The increased demand for both wood raw-material and processed forest products in China has, to a large degree, benefited the forest industry in British Columbia and the states of Washington and Oregon in the U.S., WRQ says, adding that "it is interesting to note that the two countries have chosen different paths over the past few years." In Canada, it explains, sawmills historically shipped more than 90% of their exports to U.S. markets, but this changed as demand for lumber fell when the housing bubble burst in 2008.
In the 3Q/10, less than 70% of exported lumber was destined for the U.S. market, according to WRQ. On the other hand, lumber shipments to China have gone up seven-fold the past three years and are expected to reach almost four million m3 in 2010. This makes Canada the largest softwood lumber supplier to China, having surpassed Russia in the 4Q/10.
Another factor that has had an impact on the higher Canadian lumber exports to China is the abundant supply of low-cost beetle-killed timber in British Columbia, WRQ says. Sawmills in the interior of the province have increased their production levels lately, ending up almost 20% higher in the 3Q/10 than in the same quarter of 2009. Much of the additional volume has been low-grade lumber targeted for the construction market in China. An estimated 16% of the B.C. lumber production in 2010 was exported to China.
While Canada has drastically raised lumber shipments to China in recent years, the U.S. has instead expanded exportation of logs to Chinese sawmills and plywood manufacturers, WRQ points out. In 2007, the U.S. exported less than 100,000 m3; in 2010 an estimated 2.4 million m3 was exported. The U.S. is now the third largest softwood log supplier to China, after Russia and New Zealand. The strong export market has caused sawlog prices in the U.S. Northwest to go up more than in any other region of North America the past year, according to WRQ.
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