According to the Western Wood Products Association (WWPA), 4.96 million m³ of sawn timber were produced in the US in the month of June. This is an increase of 9.9% compared to the same period of 2019. In the Western US, sawn timber production fell from 11.51 million m³ in the first half year of 2019 to 11.22 million m³ (-2.5%), while output rose from 15.48 million m³ to 16.31 million m³ (+5.4%) in the US South. In 2019, softwood sawn timber production in the US amounted to 56.43 million m³ (35.17 billion bft).
In the second quarter, sawn timber production in Canada fell by 18.1% to 8.5 million m³. Cutting in British Columbia decreased by 28% (3.1 million m³) in the second quarter and by 22% (6.6 million m³) in the first six months. In June, Canadian sawn timber production reached 3.25 million m³ and thus last year’s level.
In the first half year, plant utilization decreased by 8 percentage points year on year to 74% in Canada.
