by Web Editor | Sep 18, 2017 | News
A delegation from China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) visited Tacoma, Washington-based APA-The Engineered Wood Association and toured wood-framed building projects in Seattle on September 11.
The delegation, led by Director General Yu Binyang, was the highest level foreign government group to visit APA in recent years. In addition to APA, the trade visit was hosted by the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Lab (FPL), located in Madison, Wisconsin.
Representatives from the City of Bellevue, Wash. Planning and Development Department and U.S. Embassy Agricultural Trade Office in Beijing were also present.
The visit comes as China begins to formulate the nation’s timber structure construction development plan as part of the 13th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development. In a meeting held at APA headquarters in Tacoma, Director General Yu Binyang and other MOHURD representatives discussed opportunities and challenges around building with wood in China. Considerations included the importance of sustainability, green building, codes and standards, and further development of trade relations with the U.S.
“We were very pleased to host this Ministerial delegation from the People’s Republic of China,” said APA President, Edward Elias. “The caliber of this mission, in both the quality of participants and content, demonstrates the effectiveness of APA’s efforts to expand the interests of the North American wood products industry within this key Asian market.”
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/seeking-greener-construction-chinese-delegates-visit-us-wood?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news
by Web Editor | Feb 1, 2017 | News
Market participants in the North American wood products market are once again cautiously optimistic as they look to 2017. This caution continues to pervade the wood products markets as uncertainty from the ongoing softwood lumber trade negotiations between the USA and Canada, the uneven U.S. housing recovery and the potential for further OSB restarts stifle optimism.
Market participants seem to be gearing up for what they believe will be yet another year of modest demand growth with ample supply availability. This will likely result in cautious inventory buying behavior early in the year. However, 2017 could easily surpass these cautious expectations, which could result in an insufficient inventory buffer as demand powers higher both cyclically and seasonally in late spring and throughout the summer.
Buyers adopted a conservative inventory strategy in 2016 in response to recent market performance and restrained expectations. Unmet price expectations in the North American OSB market in 2013 and more recently in the softwood lumber market in 2015 translated into debilitating inventory losses.
Fresh memories of inventory losses combined with guarded optimism about housing (traders fully in the show-me mode), the OSB industry still acclimating to the startup of over 4.5 BSF of OSB capacity, and the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the softwood lumber trade negotiations between the USA and Canada drained enthusiasm for building inventories in 2016.
From Building-Products.com: https://www.building-products.com/January-2017/2017-Good-Signs-in-Wood-Products/
by Web Editor | Jan 9, 2017 | News
To be competitive in the wood products industry, companies must stay on the cutting edge. But to get to the forefront, wood products companies must invest in their production facilities to increase automation and efficiency, and to lower manufacturing costs, experts say.
“It’s a competitive market,” said Jon Anderson, president and publisher of Random Lengths, a wood products industry trade publication based in Eugene. “Unless people are investing in their plants, they’re going to fall behind and, ultimately, fall by the wayside probably in the tougher markets.”
In the past couple of years, Swanson Group in Springfield, Seneca Sawmill in Eugene, Weyerhaeuser in Eugene, and International Paper in Springfield have made major investments in their facilities totaling about $273 million. Such upgrades are part of a trend throughout the North American woods products industry, Anderson said. Wood products companies in the Pacific Northwest, Canada and the southern United States have improved their operations, he said.
The improvements can help firms capture market share during strong markets and allow them to stay afloat when the economy weakens. “It’s the more efficient, more productive producer that is going to survive the downturns,” Anderson said. “We’re not in a downturn now, but most of these operators have gone through ups and downs in their time, and they are going to get ready for the next one.”
Seneca Sawmill on Highway 99 in Eugene is nearing the end of a major facilities renovation, including the installation of new kilns, revamping its shipping and loading facility and expanding its log yard. Early this year, the company plans to upgrade its planer, the equipment that smooths lumber. By the time it’s finished, the firm will have spent $63 million on improving its operations.
From The Register-Guard: https://registerguard.com/rg/business/bluechip/35084194-62/competition-drives-mill-investments.html.csp
