NEWS

On January 16, the U.S. Department of Commerce released its preliminary affirmative countervailing duty findings on hardwood and decorative plywood after identifying significant subsidies provided by the governments of China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Commerce calculated preliminary countervailing duties of 81.34% on imports from China, 2.40% to 128.66% on imports from Indonesia, and 4.37% to 26.75% on imports from Vietnam.

Which hardwood species were part of NASA’s Moon Tree program?

Answer: Moon Trees, trees grown from seeds that were flown to the Moon on Apollo 14 and Artemis I to see how space conditions affected growth, included the American sycamore and sweetgum. 

PHOTO © KAYLA HERRIMAN, USFS

A conservation project led by Cornell University and the Nature Conservancy is propagating ash trees that are resistant to the emerald ash borer. If successful, the long-term project will reintroduce resistant white, green, and black ash trees to repopulate the species.

PHOTO © SREANG HOK, CORNELL UNIVERSITY

The volume of U.S. cabinets sold continues to decline, falling by 16.8% in November 2025 vs. November 2024. Unfortunately, this continues the declining trend, as sales volume fell by 13.5% from January to November 2025 vs. one year ago. 

Read More: November 2025 Trend of Business Report → 

Poland has arrested members of a criminal network accused of smuggling timber products from Russia and Belarus into the EU. Three Polish and two Russian citizens were arrested in December and face charges of circumventing EU restrictions on imports of Russian and Belarusian plywood and wooden planks.