by Web Editor | Apr 24, 2017 | News
North Idaho College has been awarded a $482,582 grant by the Idaho Department of Labor to train more than 200 workers in the wood products manufacturing industry.
The two-year grant is a partnership with Lewis-Clark State College and five wood products manufacturing companies in North Idaho. The positions will pay wages ranging from $15 to $25 per hour plus employer-assisted medical benefits.
“This grant will go a long way in training the next generation of wood products manufacturing workers,” said NIC President Rick MacLennan. “These are solid, high-paying jobs and an outstanding opportunity for more than 200 people in North Idaho. We’re grateful for the Idaho Department of Labor’s foresight and the hard work put in by many people to make this grant a reality.”
The funds will be used to address skill gaps for high-wage, high-demand occupations in the forest products industry and increase the employment and wages of Idaho workers in mostly rural areas. The project also supports the Apprenticeship Idaho program, which expands innovative apprenticeships into high-growth occupations and industries. Idaho Forest Group, Potlatch Land and Lumber LLC, Stimson Lumber Co., Empire Lumber Co. and Plummer Forest Products (a total of 11 mills) are the five business partners in the grant. A match is required from industry partners, who gave a total of $141,834.61 in cash and in-kind donations.
The North Idaho College Wood Products Center of Excellence will provide training along with structured on-site training at the mills.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/grant-helps-college-train-200-woodworkers-addresses-skill-gap?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news
by Web Editor | Sep 12, 2016 | News
Like much of the industry, engineered wood producers are still navigating a fickle recovery in which builders are challenged by supply constraints, tight lending, and hard-to-come-by lots. Though the market is emerging from the recession, it’s still on the slow side.
“The demand is there for 1.5 million housing units. We’re not meeting that,” says Joe Elling, director of market research for APA–The Engineered Wood Association. Production is up on a year-ago basis, “but starts could be stronger if some of these supply-side constraints were not as binding,” Elling says. “I anticipate a modest improvement in the second half of the year, but it’s still going to be agonizingly slow going forward.”
For engineered lumber manufacturers and the dealers who sell their products, the slow recovery presents both challenges and opportunities. Along with the obvious—a slower return to at-peak sales—the ongoing labor shortages have created an even stronger need for product education. At the same time, those labor constraints provide even more motivation toward using engineered products that boost efficiencies and cut back on waste.
Overall, the industry has seen a positive boost in public opinion toward wood products, be they engineered or otherwise, as high-profile projects showcase their capabilities, beauty, and warmth.
“One of the biggest things in the forest products industry today that affects EWP the most is the general feeling in the world that wood is good,” says Mike McCollum, director of engineered wood business at Roseburg. “Wood is now the first choice in everybody’s eyes. Its sustainability, its efficiencies, its workability, its natural warmth, along with the fact that it is easy to design with and easy to build with…everyone has been awakened to this idea that wood is good. Then, when you take it to the next step, everything that engineered wood brings to the construction market is highlighted even more.”
From LBM Journal: https://www.lbmjournal.com/in-depth-engineered-lumber-2/
by Web Editor | Dec 7, 2015 | News
Increasing housing starts and higher consumer spending will drive anticipated operating income growth for the global paper and forest products industry of 1%-3% in 2016, underpinning the current stable outlook for the sector for the next 12 months, says Moody’s Investors Service in a report published today. However, the outlook for the Printing and Writing Paper segment is negative as digital alternatives continue to curb paper demand.
“Our outlook for the global paper and forest products sector over the next year remains within our stable range as increasing home construction and economic growth drive wood product, packaging and market pulp earnings growth in the low single digits in 2016,” says Ed Sustar, a Moody’s Vice President — Senior Credit Officer and author of the report.
The outlook for the Paper Packaging and Tissue segment will be stable with operating earnings forecast to grow by 0%-4% on the back of increased (1) packaging demand, driven by modest economic uptick and stable food consumption; and (2) tissue demand, driven by population growth and improving hygiene standards.
Expected improvements to US housing starts will likely prop up end-market demand for timber, lumber, oriented strand board and engineered wood products in 2016, which will in turn support the stable outlook for the Wood Products/Timberland segment. However, lower Chinese infrastructure spending is pressuring North American log and lumber exports. Operating earnings in this sector are expected to grow by between 0%-4% in 2016.
Operating earnings growth for 2016 in the 1%-3% range will support the Market Pulp segment’s stable outlook. Prices across most grades (hardwood, softwood, dissolving pulp) will remain flat or decrease as capacity increases outpace demand. As additional pulp capacity comes on-line, inventory management across the fragmented global pulp industry will remain critical to balancing supply and demand.
From Moody’s: https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-Stable-2016-outlook-for-global-paper-and-forest-products–PR_340351
by Web Editor | Feb 18, 2013 | Taking Stock
Story by Dan Shell,
Managing Editor
This issue confirms two trends in the forest products industry: The U.S. housing market is finally showing significant improvement after the most drastic drop in history; and the reliance of Europe and the UK on energy wood fiber from the Southeastern U.S. is continuing to increase as reflected in new wood pellet plants announcements.
Several years after falling off a cliff starts-wise, the housing market is showing true signs of life, with activity picking up throughout 2012 and momentum carrying into this year. Prices for OSB almost doubled in 2012 and remain strong in first quarter 2013.
As noted in the cover story on page 12, the OSB segment of industry played it cautious last year as positive economic signals increased. But by the end of 2012 several OSB producers announced plant reopenings and startups in 2013, and others were taking a close look at adding shifts or otherwise increasing production.
Meanwhile, the feature article on page 16 details an exciting time in the wood-based energy industry: Increased usage of U.S.-sourced wood fuel pellets by UK and European power producers has gained increasing momentum in the past three to four years, doubling from 2009 to 2012 and is expected to double again by 2020 (if that long). In 2012, the U.S. surpassed Canada to become the world’s largest wood fuel pellet exporter.
According to a report from the University of Georgia School of Forest Resources presented to Southern landowners a year ago, there were 29 operating wood fuel pellet mills in the region, most of them targeting the European export market. From there, Southern industrial pellet capacity is set to double through 2014, as the last round of new plants announced the latter half of 2012 average more than 400,000 tons annual production capacity.
The rise of such a forest fuel industry makes for unprecedented dynamics in timber supply, as companies more allied with the energy market than traditional forest products markets compete for their share of raw materials.
Pulp and paper producers, wood fuel pellet mills and OSB plants all compete for the same log, and while the housing picture and overall economy has a good ways to go to truly heat up any procurement competition among the three, the potential is there for issues to arise in wood baskets where all three are strong players.
At last year’s Bioenergy Fuels & Products Conference & Expo held in conjunction with the Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo in Atlanta, forester Dean McCraw of McCraw Energy noted two misconceptions that many have: the Southern U.S. pulp and paper industry is going away; and that there’s a “wall of wood” in the U.S. South that will supply all users.
He added that the timber base can be tough to navigate: A big issue is the changing dynamics of timberland ownership and the rise of timber management investment groups that tend to manage for sawtimber instead of pulpwood.
To ensure adequate raw material supply, OSB producers should establish strong and long-term relationships with pulpwood suppliers—and be well aware that one characteristic of wood fuel pellet plants and biomass power producers are long-term raw material supply arrangements that are attractive to loggers and other timber suppliers.
Depending on your location and wood basket, unprecedented timber dynamics and new players in the market will require more focused, long-term raw material planning.
