US exports of Southern Yellow Pine (SYP) – used in dimensional lumber, engineered wood products, and plywood – fell by 36% in May, with the decline in trade attributed to softening demand in China for American lumber. That is according to new data provided by the US Department of Agriculture, which reveals that Chinese take-up of SYP (linked to HS 4407110046 and 4407110047) was one of the primary drivers behind the decline, dropping from 96.9 thousand cubic metres in May 2024 to just 62.4 thousand cubic metres in May this year.
One of the major touchpoints in the escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies, Wood Central, has reported that trade in American hardwood and softwood raw logs has practically come to a standstill, amid concerns over bark beetle and longhorn infestations.
According to the data, China, once the United States’ most important market for lumber exports (after Mexico and Canada), saw total lumber trade drop from 80.3 thousand cubic metres (or 15.1% of total trade) in May 2024 to just 28.2 thousand cubic metres this year (6.7% this year), with agency also reporting a slowing in demand from the Canadian supply chain – down from 100 thousand cubic metres in May 2024 (18.8% of total trade) to just 68.9 thousand cubic metres (16.3%) this year.
Price hikes loom as Canadian lumber counts the cost of tariffs
On Tuesday, Wood Central reported that Canadian lumber traders are concerned that a decision to more than double duties on over 12 billion board feet of softwood lumber shipped into the United States every year from later this month could be disastrous for companies and communities on both sides of the border: “This really could be a huge impact specifically to Northwestern and Northern Ontario,” according to Rick Dumas, the Mayor of Marathon – a small town in northwestern Ontario, Canada, “but for that matter, all of Canada in regards to the lumber sector.”
Dumas, who is also the President of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association, is concerned that a decision by the US Department of Commerce to impose a countervailing and anti-dumping rate of more than 34.45% on all lumber imported from Canada to the United States, up from 14.5%, may have significant implications for vast volumes of lumber traded between the countries: “We just got to continue to make sure that we’re lobbying on behalf of our communities and bring the voice of the North, specifically the Northwest, so the government understands that this will have devastating impacts if we continue to see these tariffs applied,” he said. “Let’s get the deal on the table by the end of July.”
