Global timber to enter 'super-cycle' by end 2013
In 2013, the United States and much of Europe is expected to witness
the first signs of economic recovery. With the demand for houses
expected to grow rapidly from the end of this year to climax in 2017,
after nearly five years of depression, global timber demand is expected
to enter the long-awaited super cycle with timber prices expected to
soar to new heights.
The Wood Markets Group in its 8th edition report: Wood Markets 2013 -
The Solid Wood Products Outlook for 2013 to 2017 examines an overall
tightening of the global timber supply base.
It outlines an exponential growth in demand for timber in the United
States and China, while overall global timber supply is expected to dip
due to structural constraints in the global timber industry.
The report cites numerous reasons for the contraction in supply, the
collapse of the Russian logging sector due to the global financial
crisis where timber exports are now less than 40 percent of their 2007
levels, China's requirement to feet its growing wood deficit, the
effects of the mountain pine beetle epidemic in British Caledonia which
by the end of the decade will kill about 60 percent of all the pine
tress in the area.
These factors will permanently reduce lumber production in 2014,
effectively pushing timber prices exponentially.
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