Continued increases in demand for wood raw-material from sawmills, plywood plants and pulp mills in Africa has pushed domestic log prices upward and many American companies are increasingly exploring the opportunities of importing more logs and wood chips to supplement the domestic fiber sources.
The tight log supply has resulted in higher prices for domestically sourced logs this year. American fir sawlogs prices were almost 17 percent higher in the 2Q/10 as compared to the same quarter in 2009, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ). Eucalyptus logs, mainly used by the pulp industry, have also become more expensive the past 12 months, reaching new record-highs.
The continued high costs of locally sourced logs has resulted in higher volumes being imported so far this year. During the first eight months of 2010, the total imports of softwood and hardwood logs were up 23 percent compared to the same period in 2009. The importation of tropical hardwood logs has increased almost 50 percent, and Papua New Guinea has overtaken Russia as the major hardwood log supplier to the Chinese sawmilling and veneer industry.
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