Published: Friday, September 09, 2011, 7:03 PM Updated: Friday, September 09, 2011, 7:13 PM
Driven by China's building boom, West Coast log and lumber exports jumped by 79 and 83 percent, respectively, in the first six months of 2011, according to U.S. Forest Service researchers. -- Eric Mortenson
Oregon log exports so far in 2011 are nearly double what they were in the first part of 2010, and similar to Washington, Northern California and Alaska, according to the Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station in Portland.
Oregon exported nearly 46 million board feet of lumber in the first six months of 2011, compared to 12 million board feet in the first half of 2010. Washington ports ship far more lumber, nearly 369 million board feet in the first half of 2011.
China alone purchased 204 million board feet of U.S. lumber through June. It bought 141 million board feet in all of 2010, according to Random Lengths, a Eugene-based publication that tracks the wood products industry.
Some industry observers speculate that China primarily uses lower-grade West Coast lumber for such things as concrete forms and construction details that won't show.
"I don't know what they're building over there, but there's sure a demand for it," said Debra Warren, a Forest Service economist.
The reports represent a mixed bag of economic news.
Log exports are good for private landowners and make for busy ports, but a manufacturers' group says they can badly hurt Northwest lumber and plywood mills.
Foreign log buyers are willing to pay $650 per thousand board feet, while Northwest mills struggle to pay $500 to $550 per thousand board fee, said Tom Partin, president of the American Forest Resource Council in Portland. That leaves mills more dependent on timber from public land.
By law, logs from U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and Oregon Department of Forestry lands cannot be exported. But those agencies aren't providing enough timber to keep local mills operating consistently, Partin said.
"Domestic processors are caught in a real lurch right now," he said. "It's very important to keep domestic sawmills going right now. We've been asking the BLM and Forest Service to ramp up (timber harvest) programs and deliver more raw material, or we're going to see more downsizing."
Partin said timber owners should take a longer view instead of cashing in on the export market.
"These private timber owners have to go to bed with themselves every night and ask if they're doing the right thing or not," he said. "Log exports wax and wane. If we lose domestic (lumber) processors and exports drop off, private companies won't have anyone to sell to in the future."
Richard Haynes, a consulting natural resource economist in Beaverton, said log exports are a recurring controversy and will remain so.
By rule of thumb, a million board feet of timber generates about five logging jobs and five mill jobs, he said. Exporting raw logs adds a port job per million board feet, but the mill jobs are lost, he said.
He doesn't see an end to cyclical nature of logs and lumber.
"Not really," he said, "not as long as it's a market-based situation."
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