DHA® eNews - China Cheats At A Rigged Economic Game
A variety of wood-related companies testified at the U.S. Trade Representative Section 301 hearings this week regarding proposed tariffs on approximately $200 billion worth of Chinese products. Those who testified include Masterbrand as well as a panel with Liberty Furniture, The Wooster Brush Company, Patriot Timber Products, Four Hands, Cascade Wood Products, Linyi Bomei Furniture Co, Alta Forest Products, and the China National Forest Products Industry Association. KCMA will testify on Monday.
A trade war is a sign of a global system gone badly wrong, argues a University of Chicago professor. Social unrest in China is chronic as people struggle to make a living in the face of scarcity and intense competition. The government chooses to deal with this by pushing forward with development and increasing production of higher-value goods. This comes with a heavy toll: 38,000 people died in workplace accidents last year.
Source: Foreign Policy Magazine
Hardwood lumber exports to China have been severely impacted by China's new tariffs. The Hardwood Federation voices its concerns as the hardwood plywood and engineered flooring industry are embroiled in circumvention challenges of their orders.
China's wood panel industry has rapidly increased production in recent years. Last year, wood panel output increased 5% to 315 million cubic meters, including 182 million cubic meters of plywood, 67 million cubic meters of fiberboard, and 35 million cubic meters of particleboard.
Vietnam's wood product export target is an aggressive $20 billion by 2025. Through July 2018, Vietnam earned $4.8 billion from exported wood products. Major export markets include the U.S., Japan, China, and the EU. There are now nearly 4,000 wood processing enterprises in Vietnam.
Hardwood plywood imports rose 28% in May despite increased duties on Chinese hardwood plywood. Imports from China dropped 85% in the first five months of 2018. Imports from Indonesia grew 48% and imports from Vietnam climbed 324% in the same period.
Columbia Forest Products named Richard Parker as chief financial officer, secretary, and treasurer. He succeeds Ron Jorde, who served Columbia for 38 years.
Jim Buffington, Industry Products Business Director, will now lead Roseburg Forest Products' industrial products business, including the sales, marketing, and manufacturing of composite and hardwood plywood products.
A multi-page spread in Panel World highlights the rich history, accomplishments, and continued growth of the 109-year-old timber and plywood manufacturer.
Renovations of the 160-year-old, five-star Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski include the installation of about 14,000 square meters of Danzer Linea European oak.
HPVA Laboratories® has awarded CARB certification for formaldehyde emissions to the Manthei Veneer hardwood plywood manufacturing facility in Petoskey, MI. See the HPVA Laboratories® website for more information on CARB and TSCA Title VI certification.
If you're in Atlanta for the International Woodworking Fair, stop by to see the Decorative Hardwoods Association® and HPVA Laboratories® team at booth 28! We'll be there until 5:00 pm today, from 8:30 am - 5:00 pm on Friday, and on Saturday from 8:30 am - 1:00 pm. The closest entrance to our booth is the middle entrance of GWCC building C, right on Northside Drive. See the Decorative Hardwoods Association® website for the exact address and a map of the show.
This month, acting EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler confirmed that the EPA will be examining the science underlying its assessment of formaldehyde. For more information on formaldehyde and formaldehyde regulations, see the Decorative Hardwoods Association® website.
This infographic from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization lists the many reasons for better forest governance and ensuring legal logging, from reducing carbon emissions to biodiversity to protecting the forests for future generations.
The Forest Stewardship Council has stopped a process that would allow the Asia Pulp and Paper arm of Sinarmas to be readmitted, as it appears that the company cut down tropical forests and used an opaque structure to hide those activities.
Researchers have found that some companies are falsifying timber inventory data to provide legal cover to transport and market illegally harvested trees, undercutting conservation efforts in the Brazilian Amazon.
New single-family home size has steadily declined over the past two years. The median size has shrunk to 2,344 square feet and the average is down to 2,555 square feet.
Household borrowing grew by $82 billion, reaching $13.3 trillion in the second quarter of 2018. This is higher than before the financial crisis and about 20% higher than five years ago.
Part 4 in the series discusses why conventional solutions aren't working and recommends different fixes.
U.S. commercial and multifamily housing starts reached $101.4 billion in the first six months of this year, 1% less than the same period in 2017 but 2% greater than in 2016.
The AIA Consensus Construction Forecast Panel projects 4.0% growth in nonresidential construction spending this year and another 3.9% in 2019.
282,000 jobs have been added over the past year, while the "pool of unemployed construction workers has nearly evaporated," stated economist Ken Simonson of the Associated General Contractors America.