Exporting opportunities remain strong for the timber industry in WilkesCounty and much of the rest of the state, said Tony Gunter, international trade specialist with the N.C. Department of Agriculture. "China is our number one export market for hardwoods right now," said Gunter, among speakers participating in a series of classes on exporting at WilkesCommunity College. Gunter said a change in the currency exchange rate helped Canada lose its position as the primary export market for hardwood lumber from timber harvested in the mountains and Piedmont of North Carolina. "This made it more expensive for Canada" to buy U.S. lumber. "Plus, the housing industry is hurting in Canada just like it is here" in the United States, Gunter added. He said furniture manufacturers in China, among primary buyers of American hardwood lumber, are benefiting as the size and purchasing power of the middle class in China increases. Gunter said current hardwood inventories in China are at a low point, so demand is up to replenish supplies. Just how long this continues depends on economic factors in China, including demand for furniture made there. Drawn by China's cheaper labor and lack of regulations, companies based in the United States wholly or partly own many of the furniture factories in China. Most of this furniture is sold in the United States or Europe. Gunter said China is one of the countries where exporters, particularly Americans, need to be willing to invest enough time to develop relationships and a level of trust with customers because Americans have a reputation for dumping foreign buyers when conditions improve in the United States. He described a tradition in China called the 'rule of threes,' which means an exporter may need to call on a buyer three times before the buyer agrees to do business. Gunter recommended that American lumber suppliers wanting to export be willing to make a strong commitment to this process, unless they export through another party. He said lumber from trees harvested in Wilkes, particularly yellow poplar and white oak, figures prominently in current hardwood exports from North Carolina. Poplar is used for the inside portions of furniture produced overseas and white oak is used for casegoods. Gunter said there currently is less demand for the color of lumber from red oak grown in the Wilkes area. Gunter said organizations like the American Hardwood Export Council, which is affiliated with USDA, sponsor trade events in other countries that help American lumber companies meet foreign buyers and talk about products and prices. The American Hardwood Export Council has such an event for North Carolina lumber suppliers in Shanghai in September. A similar event is scheduled in southern China for lumber suppliers from the entire Appalachian region in late March. "We're (the American Hardwood Export Council) also putting something together like this in Brazil," he said, adding that Brazil is strictly a developing market with unsure potential. He said it appears to be more economical to ship American lumber to furniture, flooring and millwork manufacturers in southern Brazil than to bring in lumber from northern Brazil. Gunter said Turkey, Spain, Portugal and Caribbean countries have provided a market for Southern yellow pine in the past. He noted that Southern yellow pine is now produced in South America, where it grows even faster than in the southern United States due to soil conditions.
Copyright 2002-2024 Berhon Wood Industry Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Supported by elut.cn
