As many of you know, Forest2Market recently started operating in Europe and western Russia. We have named the new product the Baltic Rim/Russia Timber Price Index, which basically covers Scandinavia, the Baltic States, Poland and western Russia. On a recent trip to western Russia, I visited with some of the new customers, as well as potential customers of the benchmark service, and of course learned some very interesting things about the regional market.
During the January/February 2016 period, pine stumpage prices rose throughout the US South while hardwood prices saw little movement. On a Southwide basis, pine sawtimber realized the biggest increase (+3.5 percent) rising to $26.42/ton. Pine chip-n-saw and pine pulpwood both ticked upward as well (+3 percent and +1.7 percent respectively) while hardwood sawtimber and pulpwood prices held steady (both <1 percent).
Seaborne exports are an important part of the forest products industry in the Pacific Northwest. The overwhelming majority (nearly 96 percent by weight) of seaborne exports of forest products shipped via Pacific Northwest ports were destined for Asia (Figure 1). Of the remaining tonnage, 1.7 percent was exported to other North American countries, 1.0 percent to Australia/Oceania, 0.9 percent to South/Central America, 0.6 percent to Europe and 0.1 percent to Africa.
Wood fuel prices have decreased over the last three quarters to an average of $20.74 per ton in 1Q2016. The market is on a declining trend as prices for substitute energy sources (i.e. natural gas and electricity) have declined and recent supplies of wood fuel have increased. Purchasers have reacted opportunistically by decreasing delivered prices.
As we ease into the warmer spring temperatures and the peak building season, housing starts data is beginning to equalize on a national level. We typically caution that it is important to remain grounded when monthly data presents us with significant swings, and March's data is no different. On the heels of February's improbable surge, housing starts dipped significantly in March as there were signs of a sharp economic slowdown and the US dollar (USD) lost strength.
Total industrial production dropped by 0.5% in February; a Federal Reserve annual revision published April 1 also showed that total IP contracted on a YoY basis during the six months through February. On a more positive note, however, manufacturing showed consecutive YoY increases in February, perhaps "a signal that the drag from the strong U.S. dollar is diminishing," said Millan Mulraine, US macro strategist at TD Securities.
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently initiated significant certification changes that will have an extensive, positive impact on America's forest products industry as well as private forest ownership. The USGCB, the governing body for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating and certification structure, announced that it will officially recognize wood and paper certified under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and other programs affiliated with the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) within its LEED building standard. The goal of this new pilot Alternative Compliance Path (ACP) is to encourage environmentally responsible forest management and eliminate illegal wood from the building materials supply chain.
Forest2Market, Inc., a global provider of data solutions for the forest products industry, today announced a corporate rebranding initiative. This rebranding includes a revision of Forest2Market's visual identity to more directly reflect the company's expansion internationally.
