By Liliana Usvat
Blog 244-365
Canada
As part of its restructuring, the industry lost thousands of jobs which produced substantial gains in productivity. These gains have helped it maintain positive profit margins somewhat comparable, on average, to those reported in the manufacturing sector during the 1999 to 2005 period.
The value of lumber industry manufacturing shipments fell 14.9% in 2005 and 17.5% in 2006 to reach $11.9 billion. This was the lowest level in 14 years.
USA
However, despite relatively steady production volume during the period, employment fell markedly starting in 2001. Presently there is a healthy lumber economy in the United States, directly employing about 500,000 people in three industries: Logging, Sawmill, and Panel. Today, more than ever, many more workers rely on the industry for employment. Annual production in the U.S. is more than 30 billion board feet making the U.S. the largest producer and consumer of lumber. Despite advances in technology and safety awareness, the lumber industry remains one of the most hazardous industries in the world.
The United States remains the largest exporter of wood in the world. Its primary markets are Japan, Mexico, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Due to higher labor costs in the United States, it is common practice for raw materials to be exported, converted into finished goods and imported back into the United States.
More raw goods including logs and pulpwood chip are exported than imported in the United States, while finished goods like lumber, plywood and veneer, and panel products have higher imports than exports in the U.S.
As old-growth forest disappeared rapidly, the United States' timber resources ceased to appear limitless. Canadian lumberman James Little remarked in 1876 that the rate at which the Great Lakes forests were being logged was "not only burning the candle at both ends, but cutting it in two, and setting the match to the four ends to enable them to double the process of exhaustion."
China
In the second half of 2008, China’s total log imports declined in 2009 to 28.1 million m3— a staggering 24% drop from 2007’s peak. Chinese log imports in 2010 are projected at about 31 million m3 — still some six million m3 below the peak level of 2007.
Softwood lumber exports from Russia have expanded, as have imports from Canada, the U.S., New Zealand and other regions. China’s growing demand for fibre is unlikely to be met by domestic and imported logs alone, and has therefore created a huge opportunity for lumber imports.
Chinese lumber imports are projected to double over the next five years to 12 billion bf or more simply to meet China’s growing appetite for wood fibre.
During the first eight months of 2012, Russia, Chile and New Zealand have increased their shipments to China, while volumes from North America have declined. China imported logs and lumber worth 4.3 billion dollars.
Russia
Exact statistics are not available for Eastern Siberia, but logging pressures are clearly centered around the forests west and east of Lake Baikal, a World Heritage site and one of Russia's ecological crown jewels (For information about illegal logging along the shore of Lake Baikal, see FSF-5).
50 per cent of total timber harvest in the Primorsky Region may be illegal and therefore not reflected in official statistics.
A 2001 assessment by the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis found the stock of "mature and overmature" forests (essentially conifers) in the RFE decreased from 7.1 billion cu. m in 1961 to just 5.5 in 2000.
When compared with the structure of the present-day industry, the Soviet era timber industry was more balanced. In 1989, in the Russian Far East, almost half of all timber production was used regionally, while 25 per cent was sent to other regions of the former Soviet Union, and 30 per cent was exported abroad. Processed timber (sawn wood, plywood, etc) accounted for 20 per cent of the region's total timber production [5]. Today, processed timber is just 7% of total production and the region now exports more than 70% of its total harvest.
Argentina
It is also estimated that the consumption of wood products from cultivated forests is 5.3 million cubic meters, and sustainable wood supply to the year 2015 will be more than 20 million cubic meters. Argentina, however, is not a major consumer of wood products. For instance, wood is not commonly used in building construction. About 60 to 70 percent of wood product production is used for internal consumption (wood boards, plywood, cellulose pulp, etc.) and the rest for exports.
The forestry industry does not supply all of Argentina’s needs. Most of the harvest is used for lumber, with smaller amounts for firewood and charcoal.
An estimated 1.115 million hectares (2.8 million acres) were planted as of 2005. It is estimated that this year, between 40,000 to 50,000 hectares (100,000 to 124,000 acres) will be cultivated mainly in the Mesopotamia region (the provinces of Misiones, Corrientes, and Entre Ríos). Among the most important species cultivated in the country are pines and eucalyptus, representing 50 and 30 percent of production, respectively.
Japan
Japan is the world's largest importer of wood, pulp, and paper products that are traded on the world market. Thus, Japan's impact is felt in many countries around the world, including the USA, Canada, Russia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Chile and many others. About one third of all logs exported from Malaysia and Russia, plywood from Indonesia and sawn wood from Chile are destined for Japan. Almost all of the woodchip exported from Australia, the USA and Chile is also headed to Japan.
Outside Japan, Japanese timber and trading corporations are known for their devastating logging techniques and their violation of community rights to resources. For example, in 1990 the Japanese paper company Daishowa blatantly disregarded the Lubicon Lake Indian Nation's land rights in Alberta, Canada and began clear-cutting the forests of the Lubicon territory.
Japan's forests cover 66% of the land, making it one of the most heavily forested countries in the world. However, after liberalizing timber import in 1960, the Japanese wood self-sufficiency rate has consistently decreased from 86.7% to 19.2% in 1999. The Japanese forest industry has been defeated by cheap wood shipped from abroad. The cheap price, however, does not include environmental costs.
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