[Index]
New Records Set in 2000 in Forest
Products Markets in UNECE
Region
Geneva, 11 September 2001
Consumption
of forest products continued to climb to new records in 2000 in the region
covered by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), despite
a slight downturn in North America.
European
forest products trade and production accelerated in 2000 in response to strong
demand within the EU/EFTA subregion, growing consumption in central and
eastern Europe, and rising demand outside Europe.
Strong
housing construction in North America fostered growth in the panel sector;
however, a mid-2000 peak in sawnwood production, combined with a downturn in
the paper and pulp sector, may signal an end to the long-term rise in
consumption of total forest products.
December
1999 windstorms in western Europe felled almost 200 million m3 of
roundwood, the equivalent of two years’ harvest in the most affected
countries, causing chaos in forests and timber markets, especially for logs
and pulpwood, but lesser effects on other downstream sectors.
Excess
roundwood supply in Europe depressed prices in 2000 and 2001 and despite
strong domestic and export demand, sawnwood prices moved lower too.
North
American sawn softwood prices exhibited cyclical trends, rising from near
record lows in mid-2000 to shoot up again in early 2001, in part due to the
expiration of the United States–Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement (however,
sawn
Russian
Federation forest products consumption showed the first signs of recovery in
2000, rising 7%, despite significantly higher exports of paper and wood
products, boosted partly by a weaker rouble.
Central
and eastern European countries forest products markets generally outperformed
other subregions of the UNECE, but on substantially smaller volumes.
After
the peak in mid-2000 of the global business cycle, North American and European
economies slowed considerably, which, together with currency fluctuations,
especially the strengthening dollar and weakening euro, negatively affected
international trade in the second half of 2000 and 2001.
Certified
forest land area doubled from 2000 to 2001, to reach 80 million hectares in
the UNECE region.
These
were the main findings of the recently published UNECE/FAO Forest
Products Annual Market Review, 2000-2001. The Review analyses statistical information on forest products markets
in the UNECE region of Europe, North America and the CIS countries.
The Review begins with an overview of the forest products markets in the
region, followed by a description of the economic factors affecting forest
products markets. Statistics-based chapters are included for markets of sawn
softwood, sawn hardwood, wood-based panels, paper, paperboard and woodpulp,
wood raw materials and tropical timber.
The
dynamic certified forest products marketplace is the subject of one chapter as
is secondary processed wood products, e.g. furniture. In addition there are
two special chapters, one on important markets in central and eastern European
countries, specifically Romania, and the other on a UNECE trading partner,
specifically Japan.
The
UNECE Timber Committee reviews markets annually and will present the market
forecast for 2001 and 2002 at its annual session in Geneva on 2-5 October
2001. The market statement will be issued as a press release and appear on the
Timber Committee's website in October.
Copies
of the Review or its Executive
Summary may be obtained from the address below, or via the website address
below. For further information please contact:
Mr.
Ed Pepke, Forest Products Marketing Specialist
UNECE/FAO Timber Section, Trade Division
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Telephone: +41 22 917 2872
Fax: +41 22 917 0041
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.unece.org/trade/timber
Ref: ECE/TIM/01/01