Stockholm, Sweden—News sources report that, during the first 10 months of 2020, U.S. importation of overseas softwood lumber was 39 percent higher than during the same period in 2019. At the time this story was written, the year 2020’s import volume was expected to be close to 4.7 million m3, the highest level in 15 years.
The importance of overseas lumber supply has increased in recent years as the supply from Canada has dwindled. Despite record-high lumber prices in the U.S. in 2020, Canadian lumber shipments to its southern neighbor have fallen for the fourth consecutive year. A reduction in the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) in the province of British Columbia has reduced production volumes in that region by over a third in just five years.
The United States’ favorable market conditions have historically attracted lumber from overseas, with the all-time high being close to seven million m3 in 2005. Europe has been the dominant provider of lumber from outside North America for much of the past two decades, a position that remained true during 2020.
Although overseas volumes had not reached the same levels in 2020 as in 2005, as of this writing, Europe’s share of the total imports reached a record high of 13 percent in 2020. The current market share is substantially higher than the 20-year average of only seven percent.
With the prospects of continued reductions in timber harvests in Western Canada, lumber produced in British Columbia will likely play a diminishing role in the U.S. lumber market in the future. Consequently, the U.S. softwood lumber demand will increasingly be met by expanded supply from the U.S. South, Eastern Canada and overseas.
