From the archive | 45
PREVIOUSLY… IN WBPI 1993
Delving into the WBPI archive, we look at some of the issues and news affecting the timber trade in previous decades
LOUISIANA-PACIFIC SCHEME HITS HURDLE At the time of going to press, Louisiana-Pacific (L-P) was waiting to hear if its plan to build a joint venture multi-million dollar OSB mill in Ireland would go ahead. The Irish government was due to make a decision on the 350-400 million ft2
/yr mill in early August – it’s last meeting before the summer
recess, but the government failed to make a decision on the issue. The proposal was due to come up for consideration in the first week of September. L-P spokesman Barry Lacter confirmed to WBPI that a final agreement had yet to be signed for the project. “The plan to go ahead depends on the action of the Irish government,” he said. He would not confirm the proposed location of the US$50m mill. The Irish Times reported in late July that a 60-acre site in Waterford Harbour had been selected, partly because the harbour is the closest deep- water, multi-purpose port to mainland Europe. It is served by container trains and is currently undergoing a I£22m investment programme, the newspaper said. L-P signed a letter of intent for the project with Coillte Teoranta, the Irish Forestry Board, in late April.
2003
PACIFIC RIM BOOM FORECAST The US$4bn particleboard industry in the Pacific Rim will boom over the next four years, with demand outstripping supply and prices increasing by up to 20%, says a new study from BIS Shrapnel Forestry. The recovery from the current depressed market conditions will be driven by significant demand from China, Japan and South Korea and relatively low investment in new capacity. The US particleboard sector has, says the report, undergone a major restructuring, with eight mills closing in the second half of 2002. The country will become a net importer of particleboard in 2004 but the excess capacity in Canada is more than enough to meet any shortfall in the US.
The study warns that prices and profits will remain flat over the next 18 months, largely because of global economic uncertainties. A 9% growth in US particleboard consumption is forecast in 2004. The Pacific Rim is predicted to rise 7% annually, against annual growth in production of 2%.
2013
WEYERHAEUSER ACQUISITION COULD OPEN NEW MARKETS Weyerhaeuser has acquired Longview Timber for US$2.65bn – a move that could open new markets for the company. The deal, the third largest forestry acquisition in North America, gives Weyerhaeuser a log export dock, sawmill and around 645,000 acres of timberland in Washington and Oregon. The Longview sawmill accounts for one-third of
Weyerhaeuser’s west coast production capacity and the log export dock is its largest in the region. Longview Timber exports mainly to China and Korea, so the acquisition opens Asian markets to Weyerhaeuser. The company said the newly acquired timberlands could supply timber for the rising housing demand in California.
It is the third largest forestry deal in North America after Resource Management Services US$5bn purchase of International Timber assets in 2006; and Plum Creek Timber’s US$3.34bn acquisition of a timber business from Georgia-Pacific in 2001.
www.wbpionline.com | August/September 2023 | WBPI
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