We hope your holiday was everything you wished for and more.  

We ring in the new year with a list of 10 predictions for wood consuming industries in 2015, from Forest2Market's President and CEO, Pete Stewart.

1. The sleeping giant will awake to biomass demand.

For years, the pulp and paper industry's attitude toward bioenergy demand has shifted between head-in-the-sand and wait-and-see. In 2015, this sleeping giant will awaken as pockets of the US South experience significant price appreciation, the result of increased competition.

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Forest industry performance in October and November was reported by both the US government and the Institute for Supply Management.

Industrial Production

Total industrial production (IP) took a breather in October, edging down 0.1% after an 0.8% advance in September. Total IP in October was 4.0% above its level of a year earlier.

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In 2006, when pine sawtimber market prices began to decrease, the pace of final harvests slowed. Landowners took a wait-and-see approach, calling for longer rotation cycles and more second thinning regimes. As a result, forests accumulated sawtimber volume and the number of regenerated acres dropped precipitously.

A recent update by the U.S. Forest Service to its forest inventory analysis (FIA) for the majority of southern states confirms these trends. Because new data are available, we can now quantify the effects falling sawtimber prices have had on forests in the U.S. South.

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Last week's weekly Market2Mill report marked the end of the fifth full year that Forest2Market has been reporting southern yellow pine lumber prices. The 52-week graph of composite southern yellow pine lumber prices from 2010 through 2014 shows:

• 2012 launched the post-recession rebound.
• From late 2012 through 2014, prices remained relatively stable.

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