Pacific Northwest Research Station

2008 Oregon and Washington lumber exports increase.

Contact:

Source: Debra Warren, dwarren@fs.fed.us, (503) 808.2001

Media assistance: Sherri Richardson-Dodge, (503) 808.2137

PORTLAND, Ore. March 2, 2009. A total of 293.0 million board feet of softwood lumber was exported from Oregon and Washington in 2008.  “The volume was up 26.6 percent from the 2007 total of 231.4 million board feet,” says Debra Warren, an economist at the Pacific Northwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service. “During this same time period, Oregon and Washington imported 1.7 billion board feet of softwood lumber, mostly from Canada.”

Warren is the author of “Production, Prices, Employment, and Trade in Northwest Forest Industries, All Quarters of 2007,” a publication produced by the PNW Research Station. This publication provides current information on lumber and plywood production and prices; employment in the forest industries; and international trade in logs, lumber, and plywood. It also provides volume and average prices of stumpage sold by public agencies. Data were retrieved from the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Other statistics found in the report are:

Some 97.7 million board feet or 33.3 percent of the west coast softwood lumber exports in 2008 went to Japan, 104.9 million board feet or 35.8 percent went to Canada, 21.4 million board feet or 7.3 percent went to the Philippines, 17.3 million board feet or 5.9 percent went to South Korea, 10.9 million board feet or 3.7 percent went to China, 5.4 million board feet or 1.8 percent went to Taiwan, 2.6 million board feet went to Australia, and 2.2 million board feet went to the Netherlands.

Lumber exports for the fourth quarter of 2008 from Oregon and Washington totaled 72.4 million board feet, up 19.6 percent from the 2007 fourth quarter volume of 60.5 million board feet. Douglas-fir accounted for 57.5 percent of the 2008 softwood lumber exports; western hemlock, 10.3 percent; and other softwoods made up the remaining 32.2 percent.

The total value of 2008 lumber shipments from Oregon and Washington was $215.7 million at the ports of exportation, and the average value was $649.52 per thousand board feet.  Douglas-fir averaged $525.74 per thousand board feet; western hemlock, $434.52; and other softwoods, $782.91.

The average value of softwood lumber imported during 2008 was $466.91 per thousand board feet.

Read Warren’s report online at http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/30416