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 | Aug 17, 2016 | News
The 2016 Structural Panel & Engineered Wood Yearbook has been released by APA – The Engineered Wood Association. The yearbook includes an analysis of the U.S., Canadian, and global economies, focusing on factors that impact demand for engineered wood products across several market segments as a basis for forecasting expected production of engineered wood products over the next five years. Besides the analysis and forecast, the yearbook also includes historical data on engineered wood production. Topics examined in the yearbook include:
• U.S., Canada, and World economies
• Residential construction in the U.S. and Canada, new and repair/remodel
• Nonresidential and industrial markets
• North American imports and exports
• Outlook and production statistics for structural panels (OSB and plywood), including historical data
• Engineered wood product demand and production (glulam, I-joists, and LVL)
Driven by healthy employment gains over the last three years, annual household growth in the U.S. is back to the 1.2 million level, with demand for new housing units also back to the 1.5–1.6 million unit level. Buoyed by low interest rates, which are expected to remain below 4 percent for most of 2016, construction of new single-family homes in the first quarter of 2016 was up almost 5 percent from the pace of the fourth quarter of 2015, the highest quarterly starts rate since the fourth quarter of 2007. While demand is high in the U.S., the primary concern for the rest of 2016 and for the next several years is the ability of the supply-side forces to respond to this improvement. Home builders report that factors including a lack of developed lots and the shortage of skilled construction labor have combined to constrain their ability to respond to the increased demand for housing. Eventually these constraints will lessen; housing starts are projected to return to approximately 1.5 million units by decade’s end, with a concurrent growth in engineered wood products output ranging from 19–28 percent during this period.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/almanac-market-data/apa-releases-2016-structural-panel-engineered-wood-yearbook?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news
