|
Talks in Sweden Look to Broaden U.S. Lumber Supply
U.S. home builders completed two days of talks with Swedish trade and industry officials last week in an effort to increase exports of softwood lumber and other wood products to America.
“The meetings with several large Swedish lumber-producing companies, trade organizations and government officials were extremely productive,” reported Jerry Howard, NAHB’s executive vice president and CEO. “All the parties expressed a strong interest in the U.S. market.”
“Our talks were multi-faceted and covered several areas, including establishing contacts among Swedish producers and American buyers and identifying and dealing with any policy barriers to increasing the volume of imports from their current level,” Howard said. “Also, the Swedish Investment Agency expressed an interest in importing American building systems and log homes technology.”
The U.S. today does not have the domestic capacity to meet its demand for lumber. While the Canadian market has been supplying the bulk of U.S. imports to fill the shortfall, a new trade pact set to take effect on Nov. 1 will institute a complicated system of border taxes and quotas, creating serious uncertainties for U.S. builders over the availability and price of Canadian lumber.
The discussions with Swedish officials followed the recent adoption of policy by the NAHB Board of Directors to help builders once the new pact is implemented. At its meeting in Salt Lake City last month, the board approved a resolution (members-only link) that calls on NAHB to work with the governments of other countries and industry to open up new supplies of “high-quality, stable and affordable” lumber.
“Lumber imports from Europe account for only a small share of the U.S. market,” said Howard. “However, those imports nearly doubled in 2005, reaching 2.1 million board feet. We want to build on that momentum, laying a foundation for increasing Swedish lumber exports to America.”
Setra Group, Bergkvist-Insjon, Boo-Forssjo, SCA Timber, Sodra Timber, the Invest in Sweden Agency and the Swedish Trade Council were among the organizations that Howard visited. To further build on these initial discussions, Sweden intends to send a high level delegation to the U.S. in the near future to begin a dialogue between U.S. lumber consumers and Swedish producers.
This week, Howard and NAHB Immediate Past President David Wilson will be meeting with Russian government and industry officials in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg to provide an overview of the U.S. housing industry and discuss opportunities to increase Russian lumber imports to the U.S.
For more information, e-mail Michael Strauss at NAHB, or call him at 800-368-5242 x8252.
 Attend the NAHB Construction Forecast Conference
Don't miss NAHB's fall Construction Forecast Conference for the latest economic news about the housing industry. Join NAHB on Oct. 25 for the Construction Forecast Conference — Fall 2006 in Washington, D.C.
If you can't attend in person, sign-up for the Webcast.
To register for either, visit www.nahb.org/cfc.
Want to Know the Housing Starts Through 2014?
Find out in HousingEconomics.com’s Long-Term Forecast.
HousingEconomics.com includes downloadable Excel tables featuring the housing starts forecast, GDP, demographics and more.
To learn more, visit www.housingeconomics.com.
|
