There was little change last year in Japan’s import volumes of North American lumber, and of US logs, according to Japan Lumber Journal Friday. Japan’s imports of Canadian logs, however, dropped significantly in both volumes and values.
Volumes of Japan’s imports of US logs increased by 7.9 per cent in 2015 compared to the previous year, from 1.79 million cubic metres to 1.94 million cubic metres. That of US lumber grew by 8.6 per cent, from 317,370 cubic metres to 347,396 cubic metres, while values of US lumber imports improved by 3.2 per cent in 2015 compared to the previous year.
Japan’s imports of Canadian logs, by volume, dropped by 28.7 per cent in 2015 compared to the previous year, from 1.17 million cubic metres to 830,827 cubic metres. Volumes of Canadian lumber imports grew by 0.1 per cent, to 2.02 million cubic metres, while values improved by 0.2 per cent.
Please see charts on Page 6.