Table 13: Current and projected sawnwood production and consumption by region and country
Region |
1996 |
2010 (projection) | ||||||
Production |
Consumption |
Production |
Consumption | |||||
(1,000 m3) |
% |
(1,000 m3) |
% |
(1,000 m3) |
% |
(1,000 m3) |
% | |
OECD - Europe |
79,763 |
19% |
80,006 |
19% |
90,515 |
18% |
94,540 |
19% |
OECD - Asia and Oceania |
38,663 |
9% |
51,206 |
12% |
50,121 |
10% |
60,325 |
12% |
OECD - Americas1 |
175,026 |
41% |
163,222 |
38% |
193,442 |
39% |
165,269 |
33% |
OECD total |
293,452 |
68% |
294,433 |
69% |
334,077 |
67% |
320,133 |
64% |
Russian Federation |
21,600 |
5% |
16,927 |
4% |
30,586 |
6% |
26,457 |
5% |
Romania |
1,693 |
<1% |
808 |
<1% |
1,527 |
<1% |
1,217 |
<1% |
Belarus |
1,545 |
<1% |
1,397 |
<1% |
1,961 |
<1% |
1,652 |
<1% |
Latvia2 |
1,300 |
<1% |
.. |
.. |
476 |
<1% |
223 |
<1% |
Lithuania |
1,250 |
<1% |
204 |
<1% |
623 |
<1% |
621 |
<1% |
Others |
3,134 |
1% |
2,435 |
1% |
9,485 |
2% |
9,575 |
2% |
Non-OECD Europe total |
30,522 |
7% |
21,771 |
5% |
44,658 |
9% |
39,746 |
8% |
China |
26,969 |
6% |
28,901 |
7% |
29,920 |
6% |
37,202 |
7% |
India |
17,460 |
4% |
17,450 |
4% |
22,208 |
4% |
22,207 |
4% |
Malaysia |
8,382 |
2% |
4,985 |
1% |
6,243 |
1% |
5,948 |
1% |
Indonesia |
7,338 |
2% |
6,941 |
2% |
11,381 |
2% |
10,553 |
2% |
Turkey |
4,331 |
1% |
4,455 |
1% |
4,848 |
1% |
4,884 |
1% |
Others |
1,788 |
<1% |
7,144 |
2% |
9,980 |
2% |
15,555 |
3% |
Non-OECD Asia & Oceania total |
66,267 |
15% |
69,875 |
16% |
84,580 |
17% |
96,349 |
19% |
Brazil |
19,091 |
4% |
17,563 |
4% |
20,067 |
4% |
20,453 |
4% |
Chile |
3,802 |
1% |
2,739 |
1% |
3,182 |
1% |
3,155 |
1% |
Ecuador |
1,886 |
<1% |
1,803 |
<1% |
270 |
<1% |
269 |
<1% |
Argentina |
1,000 |
<1% |
1,121 |
<1% |
1,356 |
<1% |
1,296 |
<1% |
Costa Rica |
780 |
<1% |
779 |
<1% |
842 |
<1% |
927 |
<1% |
Others |
3,699 |
1% |
3,800 |
1% |
3,617 |
1% |
5,189 |
1% |
Non-OECD Americas |
30,258 |
7% |
27,805 |
7% |
29,334 |
6% |
31,289 |
6% |
Nigeria |
2,723 |
1% |
2,698 |
1% |
3,135 |
1% |
3,132 |
1% |
South Africa |
1,574 |
<1% |
1,948 |
<1% |
1,852 |
<1% |
1,812 |
<1% |
Cameroon |
1,400 |
<1% |
1,084 |
<1% |
259 |
<1% |
224 |
<1% |
Côte d'Ivoire |
706 |
<1% |
206 |
<1% |
730 |
<1% |
110 |
<1% |
Ghana |
604 |
<1% |
364 |
<1% |
494 |
<1% |
463 |
<1% |
Others |
2,140 |
<1% |
6,111 |
1% |
2,134 |
<1% |
5,028 |
1% |
Africa total |
9,147 |
2% |
12,411 |
3% |
8,604 |
2% |
10,770 |
2% |
Non-OECD total |
136,193 |
32% |
131,862 |
31% |
167,177 |
33% |
178,154 |
36% |
World total |
429,645 |
426,295 |
501,254 |
498,288 | ||||
Notes: 1. It is not really possible to compare actual consumption in 1996 with the projection for 2010, because the projection is a projection of the trend and consumption in 1996 was significantly above this trend. Consequently, the growth trend in consumption is higher than the appearance given here.
2. Net exports of sawnwood from Latvia were greater than officially recorded production in 1996, so consumption can not be accurately estimated.
Current and projected wood-based panel production and consumption is shown in Table 14. OECD countries have a 67% share of world wood-based panel production and 73% share of wood-based panel consumption. Again, the United States of America is the worlds largest producer and consumer. Germany, Canada, Japan, Italy and France are the next largest producers and the order of the next largest consumer countries is: Japan; Germany; the United Kingdom; Italy; Canada and France.
Canada is the largest OECD exporter of wood-based panels. However, in contrast to the market for sawnwood, it is not the world's largest exporter (Indonesia is). The high level of wood-based panels production in Japan is partly dependent on the import of industrial roundwood (the same is true of Japan's sawnwood production).
An interesting feature to note, is that European production of wood-based panels is globally much more significant compared with Europe's position in the global markets for industrial roundwood and sawnwood. Europe is particularly strong in markets for reconstituted panels, which form a much greater share of the market for solid wood products (sawnwood and wood-based panels) in Europe than elsewhere. For example, reconstituted panels account for about 30% of solid wood product consumption in Europe, compared with 15% in North America and just over 10% in Asia.
Non-OECD countries have a one-third share of world wood-based panel production and a slightly lower share of world consumption. The top three wood-based panel producers (China, Indonesia and Malaysia) have a 22% share of world production and Brazil and Russian Federation are the only other globally significant developing country producers with a 2% share of world production each.
Asia and Oceania is by far the largest non-OECD producer region and wood-based panel production in many Asian countries is currently concentrated in the plywood sector. Much of this current strength in plywood production is based on the natural advantage of a relatively abundant availability of large logs from the natural forest. The same is also true of Brazil to some extent.
Several of the non-OECD countries shown in Table 14 are also globally significant wood-based panel exporters. For example, Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of wood-based panels, Malaysia is the world's third largest exporter and Brazil is the world's eighth largest exporter. Most of these exports are of commodity-grade plywood to markets in East Asia, including: China; Japan; and Republic of Korea.
The shares of wood-based panel production and consumption held by OECD countries and non-OECD countries is not expected to change by very much by 2010. The only major expected change is that, as with sawnwood, production growth in non-OECD countries is not expected to keep-up with consumption growth. Thus, net exports from non-OECD countries to OECD countries are expected to fall significantly as these countries consume more of their production in their domestic markets.
Table 14: Current and projected wood-based panel production and consumption by region and country
Region |
1996 |
2010 (projection) | ||||||
Production |
Consumption |
Production |
Consumption | |||||
(1,000 m3) |
% |
(1,000 m3) |
% |
(1,000 m3) |
% |
(1,000 m3) |
% | |
OECD - Europe |
37,942 |
25% |
38,808 |
26% |
52,415 |
29% |
49,514 |
28% |
OECD - Asia and Oceania |
12,389 |
8% |
20,238 |
14% |
17,370 |
10% |
24,935 |
14% |
OECD - Americas |
49,605 |
33% |
49,002 |
33% |
53,394 |
30% |
53,150 |
30% |
OECD total |
99,936 |
67% |
108,049 |
73% |
123,180 |
69% |
127,599 |
71% |
Russian Federation |
3,036 |
2% |
2,126 |
1% |
6,305 |
4% |
5,628 |
3% |
Hungary |
459 |
<1% |
337 |
<1% |
477 |
<1% |
517 |
<1% |
Romania |
433 |
<1% |
435 |
<1% |
508 |
<1% |
556 |
<1% |
Belarus |
374 |
<1% |
348 |
<1% |
570 |
<1% |
485 |
<1% |
Slovenia |
361 |
<1% |
303 |
<1% |
168 |
<1% |
499 |
<1% |
Others |
1,562 |
1% |
1,305 |
1% |
3,782 |
2% |
3,966 |
2% |
Non-OECD Europe total |
6,225 |
4% |
4,853 |
3% |
11,809 |
7% |
11,651 |
7% |
China1 |
15,349 |
10% |
19,479 |
13% |
13,912 |
8% |
16,014 |
9% |
Indonesia |
10,128 |
7% |
1,873 |
1% |
11,978 |
7% |
3,376 |
2% |
Malaysia |
6,770 |
5% |
1,760 |
1% |
4,141 |
2% |
2,183 |
1% |
Turkey |
1,078 |
1% |
1,316 |
1% |
835 |
<1% |
1,126 |
1% |
Philippines |
596 |
<1% |
833 |
1% |
496 |
<1% |
499 |
<1% |
Others |
1,140 |
1% |
3,393 |
2% |
3,953 |
2% |
8,368 |
5% |
Non-OECD Asia & Oceania total |
35,061 |
23% |
28,653 |
19% |
35,315 |
20% |
31,567 |
18% |
Brazil |
3,558 |
2% |
2,617 |
2% |
3,320 |
2% |
1,849 |
1% |
Chile |
844 |
1% |
446 |
<1% |
782 |
<1% |
786 |
<1% |
Argentina |
590 |
<1% |
448 |
<1% |
1,274 |
1% |
1,208 |
1% |
Ecuador |
380 |
<1% |
296 |
<1% |
336 |
<1% |
335 |
<1% |
Venezuela |
194 |
<1% |
212 |
<1% |
351 |
<1% |
392 |
<1% |
Others |
776 |
1% |
847 |
1% |
1,081 |
1% |
1,298 |
1% |
Non-OECD Americas |
6,342 |
4% |
4,866 |
3% |
7,143 |
4% |
5,867 |
3% |
South Africa |
653 |
<1% |
741 |
<1% |
492 |
<1% |
456 |
<1% |
Côte d'Ivoire |
272 |
<1% |
199 |
<1% |
72 |
<1% |
56 |
<1% |
Nigeria |
115 |
<1% |
135 |
<1% |
113 |
<1% |
153 |
<1% |
Ghana |
105 |
<1% |
33 |
<1% |
90 |
<1% |
88 |
<1% |
Tunisia |
104 |
<1% |
136 |
<1% |
214 |
<1% |
258 |
<1% |
Others |
573 |
<1% |
774 |
1% |
1,081 |
1% |
1,347 |
1% |
Africa total |
1,822 |
1% |
2,019 |
1% |
2,062 |
1% |
2,357 |
1% |
Non-OECD total |
49,450 |
33% |
40,391 |
27% |
56,328 |
31% |
51,441 |
29% |
World total |
149,385 |
148,440 |
179,508 |
179,040 | ||||
Note: 1. The trend in wood-based panel production and consumption in China is broadly upwards over the projection period.. Sudden very high levels of production and consumption were reported for China in 1995 and 1996 and it is believed that these figures may be a statistical anomaly.
Given that such a large share of wood-based panel production in non-OECD countries in Asia is plywood production and, consequently, dependent on the supply of large logs from the natural forest, the uncertainties about this source of industrial roundwood supply raised earlier must also apply to the outlook for wood-based panel production. Much of the recent increase in plantation area in Asia is accounted for by short-rotation pulpwood species which will not supply the sorts of logs required to make plywood. Furthermore, the areas which have been planted with suitable species will require some considerable time to mature and are unlikely to make much of a difference within the timescale of this analysis. Therefore, the projected increases in wood-based panel production shown here may be difficult to achieve without continued harvesting in the natural forest (at possibly even greater levels) or some restructuring of the industry into reconstituted panel production.
Another alternative solution might be to source such logs from other countries and there are already signs that some producers are looking to countries in other developing regions in order to obtain large logs from natural forests and keep this industry going. It is questionable however, whether such moves can be sustained in the long-run.
