Japanese softwood lumber imports from 1995 to 2019: on the decrease for two decades; Europe with constant volumes © FEA
This was the analysis made by Russ Taylor, President of Forest Economic Advisors, at the Global Log & Lumber Conference in June. Lately, there was a slight slowdown in this downward trend. Nonetheless, North Americans are worried about developments on the “small but high-priced Japanese market” (Taylor). European exporters gain ground where Canadians record losses with Hemlock and Douglas sales. Within twenty years, the overall market halved to a volume of only 7 million m³.
This decrease in imports is due to two developments: a reduced softwood sawn timber demand in Japan and an increasing domestic supply of local types of wood by Japanese sawmills.
