Wood Resources International LLC

Seattle, USA. China’s hunger for wood was less acute in 2012 than the previous year. In particular importation of softwood logs fell substantially from the record levels of 2011, as reported by the Wood Resource Quarterly (www.woodprices.com).

Seattle, USA. Wood fiber prices trended downward in the local currencies in many of the key pulp-producing countries of the world in the fourth quarter.

The outlook for the global pulpwood and biomass markets is the focus at the upcoming 6th International Woodfibre Resource and Trade Conference, which will be held in Istanbul, Turkey on April 9-10, 2013.

Rapid expansion of wood pellet production in both the US South and British Columbia has dramatically increased pellet exports from North America to Europe the past year, according to the North American Wood Fiber Review.

Pulp mills and sawmills in Brazil became more competitive in 2012, because the costs for the wood raw-material, which accounts for about 70 percent of the production costs, have declined by over 20 percent since 2011, reports the WRQ.

Log imports to China were off to a slow start in 2012 but in the second half of the year, shipments picked up with New Zealand and the US gaining the biggest market shares, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly.

The improved housing market in the US the past four months has resulted in both higher lumber production in the US and in increased importation of lumber. Lumber prices have gone up by over 30% from last year, while sawlog prices are unchanged.

Log costs for Russian sawmills did not fall as the Russian government intended when it implemented a 25 percent log export tariff in 2008. Instead, sawlog prices have increased by 24 percent the past three years, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly.

Importation of both logs and lumber to China fell substantially in 2012, reports WRQ. Imports, by value, during the first eight months was $4.3 billion, or 19% less than in 2011. with the biggest declines in logs imported from Russia and the US.

In late 2011, Brazil and Chile sent the first chip vessels to pulp mills in China in over five years. In the past, Japan had been the major destination for Latin American Eucalyptus chips and is likely to continue to be the major destination.