Japan Wood Products
Prices
Dollar Exchange Rates of
16th November 2009
Japan Yen 89.12
Reports From Japan
September housing starts
The Japan Lumber reports (JLR) states that September
2009 housing starts were 61,181 units, 37% lower than the
same month year earlier. This is ten straight months of
decline. September starts fell in all the regions for all types
of unit. Condominium starts were badly hit falling 72%.
Wood based units also declined by 19%.
Ocean freight
Increased imports of raw materials by China are impacting
wood product ocean transportation costs. From North
America, grain shipments to China increased as did
shipments of logs and sawnwood and this pushed up the
cost of both bulk carriers and container traffic. On the
other hand, demand in Japan is so weak that there is no
difficulty to find space and freight costs have not increased
much this year
According to the JLR, China is buying about 4 mil. cu.m
of radiate pine logs this year and this affects ocean fright
costs of log carriers. The current rate for shipments for
Japan has increased to US$45-50 per cu.m.
For tropical log shipment China buys from PNG, Solomon
Islands and Sarawak. Bulk carriers are small around
7,500-8,000 ton and freight rates have been firming driven
up by increases in bunker oil. The early November rate
for bulk carriers from Sarawak to Japan was about US$45
per cu.m about the same level as in the previous few
months.
Laminated products
According to a survey of 50 wood frame house builders
conducted by the Japan Forest Products Journal the
materials and species used for structural members are
changing. Among large builders the use of laminated
products is increasing while smaller builders generally use
less laminated lumber. However, the use of laminated sills
by small builders is almost the same as large builders and
this is a major change on their part.
Sumitomo plantations in Indonesia
Sumitomo Forestry with Indonesian partners is developing
plantations near Pontinak of West Kalimantan.
The JLR is saying that tree planting has already started on
40,000 ha. and this will expand to an eventual 280,000
hectares in ten years. These plantations will be of mixed
species, some fast growing exotics and others native
species. The plantations are apparently on areas devastated
by slash and burn farming and on wasteland and marshy
area. The enterprise hopes to generate 1,000 jobs with this
project.
Active log purchases
After a prolonged period of low level tropical log imports,
monthly arrivals recently topped 60,000 cu.m, the same as
last year. According to the JLR plywood mills in Japan
using tropical logs are actively buying now mainly
because the rain season will slow log harvesting in the
producing countries.
Average log inventories are reported to be getting low at
the ports of shipment. Despite the slight increases in
consumption by some mill, log prices remain largely
unchanged.
At one time, the market seemed to be bottoming out when
the suppliers asked higher prices, then the yen got stronger
and the prices weakened again by 100-200 yen per koku.
Meranti regular grade prices are around 6,300-6,400 yen
per koku CIF. Small meranti prices are between 5,200-
5,300 yen per koku CIF. Sabah kapur prices have dipped
to 8,900 yen per koku CIF.
|
Abbreviations
| LM Loyale Merchant, a grade of log parcel |
Cu.m
Cubic Metre |
| QS Qualite Superieure |
Koku 0.278 Cu.m or 120BF |
| CI Choix Industriel
|
FFR
French Franc |
| CE
Choix Economique |
SQ
Sawmill Quality |
| CS Choix Supplimentaire |
SSQ
Select Sawmill Quality |
| FOB Free-on-Board |
FAS Sawnwood Grade First and |
| KD Kiln Dry |
Second |
| AD Air Dry |
WBP Water and Boil Proof |
| Boule A Log Sawn Through and Through |
MR
Moisture Resistant |
|
the boards from one log are bundled |
pc per piece |
|
together |
ea
each |
| BB/CC Plywood
grades. Letter(s) on the left indicate face veneer(s), those on the right backing
veneer(s). Veneer grade decreases in order B, BB, C, CC, etc. |
MBF 1000 Board Feet
|
|
Plywood |
MDF Medium
Density Fibreboard |
| BF Board Foot |
F.CFA
CFA Franc
|
| Sq.Ft Square
Foot |
PHND
Pin hole no defect grade |
| Hoppus ton 1.8 cubic metres |
  Price has moved up or down |
|
|
|
