Ch05

World production of roundwood continued to increase in 1993, reflecting a significant expansion of fuelwood and industrial roundwood output in the developing countries. On the other hand, removals of roundwood in the developed economies declined, remaining well below the peak level reached in 1990.
As demand for roundwood products by the processing industries in Western Europe and Japan remained weak in 1993, there was a further fall of roundwood removals in most East European countries and particularly in the former USSR. By contrast, North American markets continued to recover strongly.
Environmental concern for wildlife habitat protection resulted in a strong reduction in timber supplies from the federal forests on the Pacific Northwest of the United States (from 20 million m³ in 1990 to 2 million m³ in 1993) and a sharp increase in prices. International markets were significantly affected, the United States being the main supplier of coniferous logs and sawnwood to the large Asian timber market.
The reduced temperate timber supply in Asia led to an unprecedented escalation of prices, which favoured exports of plantation forest timber from Chile and New Zealand.
An additional supply constraint resulted from further restrictions on the harvesting of tropical logs in Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea. This led to sharp increases in prices of tropical logs, sawnwood and plywood in the Asian market.
By mid-1994, a United States federal court ruled that logging in the protected public forests of the Pacific Northwest may be partially resumed. The resulting harvest increase, to a forecast 5 million m³ in 1996, may help stabilize prices in the United States domestic and international markets.
Production of sawnwood declined to slightly below the already low 1992 levels, with a recovery in North America being more than offset by declines in other markets, particularly in the former Soviet republics.
With improved markets for wood-based panels, the Indonesian and Malaysian tropical plywood industry continued to expand. In the temperate area, there was a sizeable expansion in North American output coupled with a slight recovery of the particle board industry in Western Europe.
Production of paper and paperboard in 1993 increased marginally, mainly reflecting continuing output growth in Southeast Asia, North America and the Scandinavian countries.

Exhibit 10: Output and export value of main forest products (Percentage ghange over preceding year); Source: FAO

Production of wood pulp remained stagnant, despite rising paper production, because of the increasing use of recycled fibres by the industry. Both industries continued to suffer from low profitability and utilization rates.
The value of world trade in forest products is estimated to have declined marginally in 1993, mainly reflecting depressed prices for pulp and paper. Trade in the other main forest products expanded, however.
Larger export earnings from tropical logs in Asian countries resulted from a sharp increase in the export unit value of logs more than offsetting reduced volumes of shipments. Sawnwood and plywood export values also rose in these countries. Government policies, particularly in Malaysia and Indonesia, continued to encourage exports of processed wood products such as sawnwood, plywood, mouldings, furniture and furniture parts. African countries continued to expand their tropical sawnwood exports in lieu of logs.
Trade in coniferous sawnwood continued to increase, although at a slower rate than in 1992. Canadian lumber exports into the United States grew further in both volume and value. The Scandinavian countries continued to increase their exports to Western Europe vigourously, benefiting from a devaluation of their currencies and the fall of exports from the former USSR.
The volume of world trade in pulp and paper products is estimated to have increased by about 3 percent in 1993, mainly as a result of expanded shipments by North America and developing countries of the Far East. However, the value of trade in these products declined by approximately 11 percent, reflecting depressed international prices - with the prices of some wood pulp grades falling to around 50 percent of their 1989 peak levels.

Contents - Previous - Next