NEWS
For Immediate Release
April 6, 2006 Contact: Serena Howarth
(208) 667-4641

Lumber Output Exceeded Expectations in 2005

Industry Production Actually Set All-Time North American Record

North America produced 75 billion board feet of lumber in 2005, defying industry watchdogs’ predictions for the year and setting an all-time output record. Butch Bernhardt, president of Western Wood Products Association of Portland, Oregon, attributed the rise to an increase in new housing being constructed across the nation, as well as favorable market conditions and greater production from West Coast sawmills. "Industry analysts are saying that the market will cool in 2006," said Bernhardt, "but they said that about 2005 too, and it never materialized. We’re adopting a wait-and-see attitude. 2006 looks like it will cool off slightly, but who can tell?" Jim Riley of Intermountain Forest Association in Coeur d’Alene agreed with Bernhardt’s assessment. "2005 was supposed to slow down pretty dramatically, but production ramped up instead," said Riley, the association’s president. "The main reason for this is that demand for wood products did not decrease as had been forecast. Demand increased, and is still increasing. People are building larger homes, with larger rooms and larger porches and decks; if they’re not doing that, they’re remodeling what they already have. And building and remodeling takes lumber, plywood and siding, and lots of it." Riley continued: "If consumption drops, industry will scale back on production, but until that actually occurs, it’s sort of pointless to predict it." Economic analysts are confident that housing starts will fall off as interest rates continue to rise, and that lumber demand will follow suit. Regional economists hope that this is not the case, given timber’s impact on the local economy. Nearly one of every eleven jobs in Idaho is tied to the forest products industry, which is the state's primary non-agricultural industry. According to the Idaho Forest Products Commission, of all the basic industries in Idaho, the forest products industry provides 10.9% of the gross state product and 9% of the total jobs. According to a recent University of Idaho study on the forest products industry, wood and paper products produced $2 billion worth of sale value for Idaho in 2005, and employed approximately 15,100 workers.

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