Investigation Of Lumber And Wood Products Being Exported From The United States

This report explores some of the opportunities for, and challenges associated with, exporting wood products to China. Five topics are examined: an overview of trends in forestry and forest products in China, export opportunities and challenges for U.S. primary wood producers (Study 1), export opportunities and challenges for U.S. secondary wood producers (Study 2), relevant barriers to trade, and a compilation of state export resources. This work is based on observations from three trade missions to China (March 2004, March 2005, and July 2006), interviews with persons knowledgeable with hardwood markets in China, and two surveys of Chinese forest products business groups.

Tables summarize volume and values of United States trade in wood products from 1978 to 2005. Import and export data are shown for 21 commodities aggregated from over 1,700 wood products. Data were obtained from an earlier report by Chmelik and others and the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Trade in each commodity is delineated by trading partner and shipments through each of four regional aggregations of U.S. customs districts. Data show that the United States is a net importer of wood products and Canada is the dominant supplier.