A total of 77.0 million board feet of softwood lumber was exported from Washington, Oregon and Northern California in the first 3 months of 2008. The first quarter volume was up 31.0 percent from the 2007 first quarter total of 58.8 million board feet, according to the Pacific Northwest Research Station, U.S. Forest Service.
Some 34.2 million board feet or 44.4 percent of the west coast first quarter softwood lumber exports in 2008 went to Canada, 15.2 million board feet or 19.7 percent went to Japan, 7.6 million board feet or 9.9 percent went to Indonesia (mostly from San Francisco), 4.7 million board feet or 6.1 percent went to the Philippines, 4.5 million board feet or 5.9 percent went to South Korea, and 2.1 million board feet or 2.7 percent went to China.
Lumber exports for the first quarter of 2008 from Oregon and Washington totaled 68.1 million board feet, up 22.2 percent from the 2007 first quarter volume of 55.8 million board feet. A total of 8.8 million board feet was exported from Northern California, compared with 6.3 million board feet in the first 3 months of 2007. Alaska exported no lumber during the first quarter of 2008.
Douglas-fir accounted for 45.2 percent of the first quarter 2008 softwood lumber exports; cedars, 26.6 percent; western hemlock, 9.6 percent; and other softwoods made up the remaining 18.6 percent.
The total value of first quarter 2008 lumber shipments from the west coast was $57.2 million at the ports of exportation, and the average value was $742.99 per thousand board feet. Douglas-fir averaged $761.83 per thousand board feet; cedars, $904.22; western hemlock, $331.69; and other softwoods, $678.94.
Note: Data retrieved from the U.S. International Trade Commission and “Production, Prices, Employment, and Trade in Northwest Forest Industries.”