The value of softwood logs and lumber exported from North America to China reached over 1.6 billion dollars in 2010, which was 150 percent higher than the previous year and more than ten times as much as in 2006, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly.

For Immediate Release

SEATTLE/EWORLDWIRE/Jan. 19, 2011 --- China has come to the rescue for many sawmills and timberland owners in the U.S. and Canada the past year, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly. The value of softwood logs and lumber shipped from North America to China is estimated to reach over US$1.6 billion in 2010, which is up dramatically from just a few years ago. In 2008, total exports were valued at $350 million, while they were only $125 million five years ago.

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. It is interesting to note that the two countries have chosen different paths over the past few years. In Canada, sawmills historically shipped over 90 percent of their exports to U.S. markets, but this changed as demand for lumber fell when the housing bubble burst in 2008. In the third quarter of 2010, less than 70 percent of exported lumber was destined for the U.S. market. 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 fourth quarter.

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 (B.C.). Sawmills in the interior of the province have increased their production levels lately, ending up almost 20 percent higher in the third quarter of 2010 as compared to the same quarter in 2009. Much of the additional volume has been low-grade lumber targeted for the construction market in China. An estimated 16 percent 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. 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 the Wood Resource Quarterly.

Global timber market reporting is included in the 52-page publication Wood Resource Quarterly. The report, established in 1988 and with subscribers in over 25 countries, tracks sawlog, pulpwood, lumber and pellet prices and market developments in most key regions around the world.

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SOURCE: Wood Resources International LLC