Brand-new data released Thursday by Industry Canada and US Census Bureau shows a continued glowing picture for US softwood lumber consumption, imports, and Canadian lumber exports to US.
US Sawmill Products Imports: November 2016
A major glitch in US Census data reported at the beginning of 2015 nothwithstanding, US sawmill products imports from the world also showed steady increases through last year, rising by 15 per cent for January to November 2016, to US$6,454 million from US$4,214 million in 2015. This increase was driven largely by a 24 per cent rise in lumber imports from Canada, to US$5,547 million from US$4214 million the previous year.
Imports from other regions rose by robust margins as well. America imported US$154 million worth of sawmill products from Chile in the first eleven months of 2016 compared to US$150, a 9.1% increase. Imports from China meanwhile improved by 19.6%, at US$48 million compared to US$39 million in 2015.
US lumber and construction material demand, meanwhile, also shows steady increased upward, by 6.2% compared to the previous year, closing January to November 2016 at US$113,434 million compared to US$ 106,371 million for the same time in 2015.
Canada Sawmill Exports: November 2016
Data released Thursday by Industry Canada — which, after the US Census correction of data reporting mistake early in 2016 — is very consistent with the US numbers above, shows sawmill products exports to the world continued their steady improvement through last year, rising by 16.4 per cent for the first eleven months of 2016, to C$9,645 million from C$8,284 million in 2015. This increase was driven largely by a 25.5 per cent rise in lumber exports to USA, to C$7,176 million from C$5,717 million the previous year.
