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AMSO in China |
 by
Hande Ozer Buyuksahin:
During the first half of the September SEC launched
its fall China promotional events. In the first
week, SEC hosted three seminars in Shenzhen, Xiamen
and Shanghai. A total of 300 attendees, who are
mainly architects, designers and wholesalers
participated in the seminars. The second week was
the exhibition at the Furniture Manufacturers Show (
FMC) in Shanghai. FMC is an annual show which
unites furniture manufacturers and suppliers in one
place. According the show organizers, FMC had
15,000 exhibitors and 65,000 visitors in 2007. For
2008, it was expected to exceed these numbers and
reach 70,000 visitors.
American Softwood Seminars
SEC provides technical seminars in China every six
months to increase market awareness. The seminars
focus on specie and application introduction. In
September, SEC and AmSo China staff organized the
fall seminar series in Shenzhen, Xiamen and
Shanghai. Shenzhen has been the center of the trade
by its closeness to Hong Kong. The attendance was
a total of 86 people who are designer, architects
and local interior design association members. The
second of the seminars took place in Xiamen. This
is our second time in Xiamen where we had more 200
participants to our seminars last year. This year
was also successful participation with 180 people.
The attendees express their interest with their
questions and comments after the seminars including
requests about application and treatment of the wood
as well as fire resistance. The Shanghai leg of the
series was presented during the FMC show in order to
attract both designers and manufacturers. The
attendance was high reaching 80 people.
FMC Trade Show 2008
 SEC exhibited
in the FMC show in the second week of September.
The 4 day long show attracts furniture manufacturers
and suppliers from all over the Asia. The show is
highly anticipated by Chinese manufacturers and more
than 70,000 visitors were expected this year. AmSo
members of PLEA also took part and worked the stand
with AMSO staff.
American Softwoods booth was one of the main
destinations. The booth had around 250 visitors who
were looking for treated wood substitutes. The
increasing price of Russian pine had changed the
Chinese market. The two new species which were
constantly asked in our booth were Ponderosa pine
and Hemlock. Ponderosa pine is in high demand to use
in furniture manufacturer. The other requested
specie was treated western hemlock. The Chinese
manufacturers feel that European and other species
have gotten too expensive and that the Russian tax
will soon affect that source as well. There was
also particularly high participation from Korean
manufacturers who are also looking for Ponderosa
pine.
The new demand for Ponderosa pine and treated
Hemlock offer the new market opportunities for
American softwoods. The AMSO will increase its
marketing efforts for these species and exhibit in
other trade shows in the future.
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Japan Opportunities |
The Japan housing market is slowly recovering from the
abrupt slow down due to building code changes. As the
market returns, Japanese home builders are faced with new
questions on sourcing materials especially for 2x4
construction which is now about 25% of wood frame
construction. Traditional Canadian sources have limited
supplies because of the downturn in the US housing market
and its problems with timber sources. The European
suppliers are hampered by a strong Euro. A recent tour in
the western US gave sawmills a new insight when a major
Japanese home builder found acceptable products being
produced by south of the border.
To help US producers rediscover the Japanese market, SEC and
the AFPA staff in Tokyo are putting together a tour of major
softwood users in Japan during the annual Japan Lumber
Importers Association meetings in December. This annual
industry meeting includes meetings with major Japanese
ministries affecting the use of US softwoods as well as the
Japanese wood and home building industries. One highlight
of the meetings is the Industry sponsored reception where
all the major softwood players in the Japanese market are
invited.
This year the industry tour will include a major post and
beam production fabricator, a major 2x4 housing production
factory, jobsite house erection, and a special tour of
Toyota, to better understand the reasons for production line
mentality of the Japanese. Trip funding is available
through your membership in PLIB, WCLIB, WWPA, or other SEC
member organization..
The Center for International Trade in Forest Products
(CINTRAFOR) recently returned from a reserach trip to
Japan. The following are some or their conclusions:
"One observation from this trip is that the SPF 2x4
dimension lumber supply is becoming very tight in Japan
and this offers a potential market for U.S. SPF, hemlock
and Douglas-fir.... The supply of dimension lumber in
Japan is especially tight in the wider dimensions such
as 2x10 and 2x12. Many builders are starting to adopt
wood I-joists because they are unable to find a stable
supply of 2x10's . This reflects the overall concern of
2x4 builders that the dimension lumber supply is
starting to tighten across the board. Japan forest
products producers are becoming very concerned with the
stability of their raw material supply. There concern
centers on what will happen in the future to the BC
supply of dimension lumber with the pine beetle and a
stronger Canadian Dollar. Many of the industry experts
pointed out that mills are looking to domestic species
as a hedge against disruptions in foreign supply.
However, other experts pointed out that Japan lumber is
not suitable for 2x4 dimension construction"
A full report will avaiable by the end of the year from
CINTRAFOR
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Northern Europe Market Report |
By Eddie Pearce
The markets across Europe remain sluggish. Housing starts in
nearly all countries are at their lowest since the early
nineties. This situation is confirmed by the fact that all
the timber producing countries except for Germany are
reporting lower export volumes of sawn timber. Finland lower
by 17%, Austria by 5%, Sweden by 2% and Russia by 28%. The
situation is also not helped by the fact that Europe is in
the middle of its holiday season when activity in the timber
trade normally slows down until September.
The only regions that are proving to be successful for
exports of softwoods are the north African countries, such
as Libya, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia and the Middle eastern
countries such as UAE, Saudi Arabia. Exports of sawn
softwood to these regions have increased by about 15%. As a
result of this downturn in exports a number of Nordic
sawmills will be closed for longer summer breaks thereby
resulting in production cut backs.
United Kingdom:
The slowdown in the housing market has reached its
worst position since the early 1990's.Nearly all the major
house building companies have virtually stopped building.
This has resulted in a 27% drop in the number of new house
starts during the first 3 months of 2008 compared with same
period in 2007 and this situation is reflected in the export
levels of U.S. softwoods. As result of the downturn in the
building industry, the UK imported 33% less sawn timber
during the first 3 months of 2008.
Germany:
Although the German timber industry is having success with
exports, domestically the demand for sawn timber has
slowdown. The reason for this is that new house construction
has slowed considerably during the first 3 months of 2008,
resulting in a 15.5% drop in new house completions. Despite
this, U.S. softwood exports have continued to grow albeit
very slightly during the first quarter of 2008.
France:
The French timber trade has begun slowing down as a result
of the lower demand for timber. This is a direct consequence
in the downturn in the housing industry, particularly in
private housing.
Despite of this situation U.S. softwood exports to France
are 20.0% higher compared the same period in 2007, with
Southern Pine being the main specie imported.
Belgium-Luxemburg:
A similar situation to that which exists in France is also
happening in Belgium. Despite a general slowing down in the
building industry, export levels of U.S. softwoods have
continued to increase and are 69% higher compared with same
period in 2007.
The Netherlands:
In the Netherlands the building industry appears to be going
against the trend compared with the rest of Europe with the
industry enjoying a relatively busy period. This is
reflected in the U.S. export levels which are running 17%
higher compared with the same period in 2007 with Douglas
fir being the major specie imported at nearly 80% higher
compared with 2007. Southern Pine is also increasing its
export levels running at 38% higher than 2007.
Ireland:
The Irish economy is at a very low ebb at this
moment in time. The timber industry is suffering from the
effects of a severe downturn in house building across
Ireland. The consequence of this situation is that imports
of sawn softwood from all sources has dropped by 13% during
the first quarter of 2008.
Other Markets:
During the past 3 years the UK office has been involved with
promoting softwoods from the U.S.A. by participating at the
Dubai Wood Show in Dubai, UAE. This is the largest trade
show in the region which specifically targets the timber
industry and it attracts many visitors from all around the
Middle East and beyond, eg Pakistan and India.
In a recent report produced for SEC by Broadleaf Consulting,
the value of the softwood timber exports to this region was
$576.6 million in 2007, an increase of 72.8% compared 2007.
The volume of timber shipped was 2.8 million m³, an increase
of 45.6%. The U.S. timber industry recognises that it
still has a considerable amount of investment of time and
effort to make in this market to make real inroads into this
market and it is for this reason that American Softwoods
will be participating in both the BIg 5 construction show
in November 2008 and at the Dubai Wood Show again in April
2009.
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Upcoming Trade Shows
and Seminars |
October
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USCB Sales mission
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Expo Cihac, October 14-18, Mexico City, Mexico
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Interbuild - October 26-30, Birmingham, UK
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EBPA/WSCTED Sales mission - October 20-24, SW
Japan
November
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Japan Home Show - November 12-14, Tokyo, Japan
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Big 5 Construction Show - November 23-27, Dubai,
UAE
December
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Japan Lumber Importers Association, December ,
Tokyo
January
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Expo Mobiliaro, Jan 21-24 Mexico City
February
- Delhi Wood Show, Feb 12-15, New Delhi
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KH Housing Fair, Feb 18-23 Seoul
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WoodMac China, Feb 17-20 Shanghai
March
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Interzum Guangzhou, March 27-30 Guangzhou
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A+C Show, March 3-6 Tokyo
April
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Dubai Wood, April 21-23 Dubai
May
www.softwood.org/calender |
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The
US housing market continues to bounce along the bottom with
recent annuallized housing starts at the 895,000 level, the
worst level in 17 years. industry projections for 2009 are
a little better with forcasts of a bit more than 925,000,
still ugly by anyone's standards.
