Forest2Market's Western Hemisphere Benchmark allows producers to compare their own raw material costs to the market average in one of several ways. The first is by end-product segment. If, for example, you produce boxboard, you can compare your costs to the market average for all boxboard producers. The second way you can benchmark your performance is by product species. If you consume conifer (softwood), you can compare your costs to those of all other softwood consumers (the same is true for hardwood). Third, you can compare your costs by region. If you are in the US South, for instance, you can compare your costs to average costs in the US South. Finally, because markets for pulp and paper are global, you can understand your relative cost position compared with other producers in the Western Hemisphere.

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Sawmill owners and managers are continually striving to maximize the profit made from each log purchased in order to outcompete other sawmills. A simple prescription for this is to keep raw material costs as low as possible while maximizing sales; it's manufacturing 101, but as the old saying goes, "it's easier said than done."

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In 2015, New Hampshire set a record for biomass use: 2.6 million tons of low-grade wood was converted to electricity. In 2014, biomass accounted for roughly 22 percent of Maine's total harvest volume. Depending on local markets, biomass represents between 20-30 percent of the harvest volume in the Northeast, which equates to a significant amount of electricity produced from renewable resources grown in local forests.

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According to trade data compiled by the US Census Bureau through May[1] of 2016, exports of southern yellow pine (SYP) logs to China are on track to increase by a factor of 2.6 times (+163 percent) compared to 2015. At the same time, it looks like China will also be reducing its purchases of Doug Fir by 31 percent; however, Japan is picking up some of this available supply with a 6 percent increase in purchases. As for Hemlock, China has increased its purchases only slightly (+3 percent).

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The Committee on Forestry (COFO) of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently held its annual gathering in conjunction with World Forest Week in Rome-a series of meetings and events sponsored by the FAO as well as its partner organizations and institutions. World Forest Week is an opportunity for sharing state-of-the-art knowledge and major accomplishments and achievements in the forestry field on a global scale.

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Forest industry performance in June and July was recently reported by both the US government and the Institute for Supply Management. Total industrial production (IP) increased 0.6 percent in June, the fastest rise in eleven months. Total IP was -0.7 percent YoY, however, the tenth consecutive month of YoY declines. For 2Q as a whole, IP fell at an annual rate of 1.0 percent, its third consecutive quarterly decline. Manufacturing output moved up 0.5 percent in June, primarily on the strength of motor vehicle assemblies (MVA). Excluding MVAs, manufacturing IP was unchanged.

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Housing starts continued to inch upward in July, as southern yellow pine (SYP) lumber maintained the high price it has commanded since early April. Demand for housing-both new and previously-owned-remains robust enough to drive the prices of already-short inventories out of reach for many buyers. Given the pervasive sense of market uncertainty that we covered last month, this trend is positive news for a sector that has, for the most part, continued to perform since being devastated during the Great Recession of 2008.

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With more than 4,200 fires reported across the state thus far in 2016, California is experiencing an unusually active and dangerous fire season, and many experts believe the worst is yet to come; September is typically the hottest month of the year in the Golden State. Overall, the number of fires on state lands this year is well above the average of 3,000 and across the state, when all the fires on federal land in remote areas are factored in, some 420,000 acres have burned.

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Joel Swanton has joined Forest2Market as Regional Sales Manager for Western North America. In his new role, Swanton will act as a supply chain expert and advisor to existing and prospective customers in the western region, and advise forest products industry participants on the use and integration of Forest2Market products and services into their business decisions. He will also represent Forest2Market at industry meetings.

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"Wood is more than the tree," said FPInnovations president and chief executive officer Pierre Lapointe at a recent press conference announcing a new bio-refinery in Thunder Bay, Ontario. "Wood is cellulose, it's hemicellulose, it's lignin. We have not extracted at each step of using a tree the most powerful value. Now we're doing it at all steps, including going to the nano scale of the fibre."

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