Softwood Export Council Newslett

In addition to the introduction about western species and case studies about wood applications in China, Jesse Yang and Xu Fang also touched upon the issue about sustainability, which drew a lot attention from local designers.The seminars helps designers to learn more about American softwood species and wood construction. It also helps AMSO to establish strong market in China.

Interzum China 08 Show

American Softwoods particpated in the Interzum 2008 Show in Guangzhou. The Interzum show is a leading woodworking and furniture show of China.

Guangzhou is located in southern China which is one of the largest furniture manufacturing bases in the world. 40% of China's top ten/leading furniture manufacturers are located in Guangzhou and furniture production in southern China has become an important industry hub attracting manufacturers of machinery, suppliers of raw materials and final producers of this lucrative industry. Interzum Guangzhou is known as the one-stop forum for networking with buyers, manufacturers and suppliers from all sectors of the furniture manufacturing, production, and design industries. Interzum Guangzhou 2008 had an even bigger success than before. All exhibition booths, occupying a total of exhibition space of 60,000 sqm, attracted more than 700 exhibitors.

During the show, more than 200 visitors stopped by American Softwoods booth . The American Softwoods staff received contact information for 105 companies, among them, 34 were furniture manufacturers, 43 were furniture semi-product manufacturers, and 20 were wood materials company distributors and traders, and 2 of architecture/design institutes, and 6 from industry associations.

Ten members of American Softwoods, MITC, NAWLA, PLEA and OECDD were also participated to show to connect with Chinese buyers. The members had also oppportunity to take tours to local wood whoelsale markets such as Guangzhou Yuzhu Timber and Wood Wholesale market, Xingye Timber market and Hua Bang Wood processing factory.

Yuzhu market is located at Huangpu District, Guangzhou Municipality. It's also on the brink of Pearl River. The market possesses a cargo wharf with capability of 5000 ton, which is linked with domestic and international docks and harbors. Covering a broad shopping area, the market possesses of terrene acreage of 360,000 sqm and lodgement acreage of 200,000 sqm. The market is divided into plank and timber district, artificial panel district, trade district of log, veneer and molding district, wood floor city and wood door direct distribution square, storage center, dock handling materials circulation district, commercial informational center . The Maerican Softwoods members were welcomed to visit more sections of the Yuzhu market and giving the business opportunities with cooperating from the Yuzhu timber market in the coming future and indirectly expanding export of American Softwood to China market, since most of the logs imports from this harbor to the southern China regions.

The Yuzhu timber market is famous for its great scale, top grade, various wood species, excellent trademark, and good credit. It possesses of strong cohesiveness. It's also information digital dock in the south of Chinese wood industry. The business radiates to all over of China and stable, permanent cooperative relationship with businessmen in Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America, Australia, Europe and other countries and regions already.

Northern Europe Market Report

The first 3 months have shown that the financial problems being experienced in the U.S.A. at the present time are having a significant effect on most of the major EU markets and as a consequence they are slowing down by varying degrees. This has resulted in a significant downturn in the building and construction activity across Europe. The organisation Euroconstruct has forecast that the number of new homes are likely to fall by about 9.5% by 2010.

As a consequence of this downturn the exports of US Softwoods have also slowed down, as can be seen in Table 1.

TABLE 1:

IMPORTS OF U S SOFTWOOD LUMBER BY COUNTRY - m3: JANUARY
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COUNTRY	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2007YTD	2008YTD	% Chg

AUSTRIA	0	2	225	0	0	0	0
BELGIUM/LUX	6,210	4,053	7,177	8,075	3,904	153	176	15.0
DENMARK	1,689	1,485	1,139	1,231	1,644	121	112	-7.4
FRANCE	5,308	6,824	6,365	9,941	6,869	1,102	539	-51.1
GERMANY	5,753	6,417	5,590	9,538	8,968	220	330	50.0
GREECE	1,883	3,610	2,649	3,025	3,147	161	0	0.0
IRELAND	1,366	2,006	3,111	6,044	2,457	418	127	-69.6
ITALY	15,476	22,096	21,660	21,111	18,546	1,653	1,881	13.8
NETHERLANDS	20,255	6,281	5,952	3,918	6,934	121	668	452.0
PORTUGAL	2,107	3,197	4,457	6,894	3,451	453	139	-69.3
SPAIN	50,435	55,025	72,678	79,496	45,774	5,083	2,834	-44.3
SWEDEN	131	789	1,227	667	1,536	26	52	100.0
U K	11,478	17,180	18,077	26,288	89,771	1,506	2,479	64.6

TOTAL EXPORTS	122,233	129,195	154,302	176,424	193,114	11,051	9,337	-15.5

United Kingdom:

Housing in the UK has slowed. New house orders are down by 11.0% and new completions are down by 12% compared with the same period in 2006 which resulted in a fall in the demand for timber. However, this is viewed by a number of forecasters as a short term condition forecasting that by 2009 an increase in demand for timber and housing will increase again.

Germany:

As is the case in the UK, new house construction in Germany, in the second half of 2007 showed a dramatic downturn, particularly in the volume of pre-panelised houses sold, to a level being 44.18% lower compared with the same period in 2006. This has led to a reduction in demand for sawn timber. This in turn has resulted in a number of sawmills being shutdown earlier than expected. The slowing down of the German economy is supported by reports from the German Timber Trade Federation (GD Holz), who have stated that the timber merchant's sector has seen a significant fall in trading levels since September 2007.

France:

The France has joined the rest of Europe, with a slowing down in its economy. During the fourth quarter of 2007 new house planning permits dropped by 18% to 123,000. However, this drop has been slight cushioned by increased activity in the renovation sector.

Belgium-Luxemburg:

The timber industries of Belgium and Luxemburg rely heavily on exporting their products to Germany and as a consequence of the downturn in Germany these two countries have seen a slowdown in activity resulting in a lower demand for timber. Despite this downturn exports of Southern Pine is continuing to increase, albeit at modest levels.

The Netherlands:

The Netherlands is one of the countries that appears to be going against the trend. Building and construction activity has been very positive, resulting in good demand for timber and timber products, as is reflected in the export figures of US softwoods to the Netherlands, particularly for Douglas fir

Ireland:

The Irish economy remains slow. The building and construction sectors continues to be sluggish despite of the fact the Irish government has indicated that Ireland needs more houses, particularly for the lower cost end of the market. Reports suggest that there is not going to be any significant change in the situation until at least early 2009.

Sweden:

Sweden continues to increase its imports of American softwoods. The main specie being imported is Southern Pine.

From the grades being imported it appears to be used for non structural applications.

A visit to Sweden is planned to determine exactly what uses Southern Pine is being used for.

Upcoming Trade Shows and Seminars

May