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In the first half of 2021, North American timber was affected by the U.S. epidemic, resulting in a sharp decline in wood processing capacity, shortage of supply, and strong local demand for timber in the United States, which led to a rapid increase in the price of North American timber. This has greatly increased the price of North American materials in China. Although North American materials experienced a significant price drop after May, market demand has not yet improved. The supply of North American materials on the market is still in short supply.

Some market participants pointed out that the U.S. is still under the circumstance of the epidemic, the rate of timber harvesting and processing is still difficult to return to normal levels, and the production capacity of timber is still very limited. Secondly, at this stage, local buildings in the United States are under construction in full swing, and the local demand for wood, especially Douglas fir, hemlock and other coniferous species is very large.

Under this situation, the American hardwood processing plants switched to softwood processing, and the hardwood production capacity has further shrunk, resulting in a small amount of wood supplied to China and extremely high prices.

Self-regulation in the domestic market

Abandon the use of North American wood and choose pine from other origins such as European spruce

In the past two years, the import volume of SPF has gradually shrunk, and its market space has gradually shrunk. Especially in the furniture field, SPF has been difficult to find. According to merchants, the shrinking of the SPF market space is mainly due to the continuous increase in the purchase of SPF in the United States in recent years, which has led to a rapid increase in the price of SPF, especially in 2021, the price of SPF has risen ridiculously.

However, the excessively high prices have gradually lost the cost-effectiveness of SPF. Domestic dealers have also abandoned the use of pine wood from other origins such as European spruce. The market space of SPF has also been shrinking.

Domestic businesses bearish North American materials

Regarding the latest external disk prices of North American coniferous sawn timber, it is reported that the current North American coniferous (sawn timber) external disk price in the Chinese market has fallen by 370 US dollars/cubic meter, and is expected to fall to 300-330 US dollars/cubic meter.

However, the merchants said that due to the unsatisfactory current market delivery, even if the price drops, they are afraid to make large-scale orders. They are all under low-traffic conditions to cover their positions.

The U.S. and Canada fell out of the top three U.S. timber imports

In 2020, among China's major timber import destinations, North American countries such as the United States and Canada ranked third and fourth respectively. In the latest first half of the year, the United States and Canada only ranked fifth and eighth in terms of domestic timber imports.

The rapidly declining import volume has also seen to a certain extent that domestic enthusiasm for North American materials is not as good as before.

Worth noting

Last week, Wisford, the world’s largest lumber company, finally announced a 30% reduction in production in BC, Canada. The prices of most secondary lumber varieties have risen by about 6% this week after rebounding last week. The third and economic grades are basically Maintain the price last week. In view of the fact that major factories have announced plans to reduce production, many people in the industry believe that the market has bottomed out and will gradually rise in the future.