The US hardwood lumber export statistics for 2002 to the UK don’t make great reading given the huge effort that has gone into promotion in recent years by the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC). But given the general trading conditions the reduction of 13.9% in volume is perhaps not so bad. Exports to the EU as a whole were down by 6.7%. It may well be that the answer lies in the same explanation as to why US hardwood veneer exports to the UK were down 45% (in value, as the only reliable measure) compared with the EU, where they fell by only 5% from 2001. The fact is that British manufacturing in general and furniture production in particular, on which veneer sales to a large extent depend, have been suffering. And what is left of furniture production here is also moving rapidly towards the assembly of components made more cheaply elsewhere. That will certainly be a topic of discussion at the new-style agenda of the American Hardwood Convention in Hamburg in October.
Architecture
So the UK market for American hardwoods depends evermore increasingly on architecture. This fact is not lost on AHEC, hence its sponsorship of the RIBA Stirling Prize in Gateshead last year and the Wood Awards this year – a golden opportunity to promote the best in design, workmanship and installation of wood in buildings. And AHEC’s effort goes further with long-term sponsorship of the new-style conferences of the Institute of Wood Science designed to attract architects’ interest in the science of wood and technical training.
Recently AHEC also emphasised its commitment to support the timber trade by announcing its sponsorship of the Hardwood Trader category in the annual TTJ Awards. And later this year a new publication Hardwood References will be launched to inspire architects by showing the extent to which many architects, designers and engineers throughout Europe are applying different American hardwood species to advantage in modern and often award-winning context. The UK is represented by the Haberdashers’ Hall and Portcullis House in London and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. As many as 100,000 copies may be printed for distribution through architectural journals. Hardwood trade support doesn’t get much better than that.
States-side production
At the production end of the market States-side it is reported that green lumber continues to be in tight supply and there are price increases on a weekly basis in most species. The wet weather earlier in the winter seems to have affected the Central Appalachian region most and this has sometimes led to Tennessee and North Carolina prices equalling the usually higher northern prices in some items. This situation is thought by some observers likely to continue for one or two months until spring production begins to increase inventories of available lumber and prices level out.
Nor is underlying demand strong in the domestic market, especially in furniture as the US suffers something of the same trend as UK furniture manufacturing. The US Hardwood Review journal was very cautious with its forecast for 2003, suggesting that housing starts will reduce slightly to 1.3 million, although it adds that the domestic market will strengthen in the second half – always assuming a swift end to the Iraq conflict.
But while this last unknown may be blurring most forecasts, some UK importers reported brisk business in February and March for most hardwoods. As to the American hardwood lumber market in the UK for the rest of this year and next, it may be more a question of how well construction activity fares throughout 2003 and the extent to which architects will follow their new interest in hardwoods. The Wood Awards publicity, already started and continuing throughout the year, will be a chance to inspire them and the proof of that pudding will be in the eating when the winners are announced in October.
