Australia is still the United States’ fastest-growing market for hardwood exports, with shipments of predominantly Red Oak (a substitute for Victorian Ash) rising more than 50% from January to October, according to new data provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.
The data also reveals that China is still the top market for hardwood lumber in the United States, accounting for 819,000 cubic metres of wood traded from US ports. However, despite making up for 34% of total exports, Wood Central can report that the Chinese share of total trade has dropped by more than 3% in proportion to total trade and 4% in actual volumes, with Vietnam (up 26% to 359,000 cubic metres), Canada (also up 8% to 425,000 cubic metres), the United Kingdom (up 16% to 107,000 cubic metres) and Australia (up 50% to 28,000 cubic metres) making up for declines in China, Japan, and Spain.
Of the 2.42 million cubic metres of hardwood lumber traded on global markets, Red oak (28% of total volumes, or 646,000 cubic metres) and White oak (21%, or 508,200 cubic metres) dominate containers, whilst yellow poplar (11%, 266,200 cubic metres) and walnut (9% – 217,800 cubic metres) also comprise a substantial portion of hardwoods traded on global markets.
The new data comes after Wood Central last month revealed that the United States annual rate of hardwood production dipped to just 5,543,898,700 board feet last year—its lowest since 1960 and less than half its 1999 peak of 12,619,000 board feet.
Speaking at the International Hardwood Conference in Austria, Michael S Snow, the American Hardwood Export Council Executive Director, revealed that the slowdown in production can be attributed to a significant drop in domestic demand for hardwoods across all applications.
“Where the US market once swallowed 86% of all American hardwoods (in 1999), the local market (in 2018) accounted for just 56% of all hardwoods, with 26% now being re-routed and traded into China (up from just 0.4% in 1999),” Mr Snow said. As the world’s largest exporter of hardwood, Mr Snow said the United States had offset declining local demand for hardwood by rapidly expanding trade in logs and lumber into global markets—not just through China but also through India, the Middle East, Pakistan, Southeast Asia, and Europe.
- To learn more about the International Hardwood Conference and its impact on the global timber supply chain, click here to download all presentations.
