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Report
from
North America
More sawn hardwood from Brazil and Africa in July
Total sawn hardwood imports grew to 56,340 cu.m. in
July. The growth in tropical sawnwood imports was
stronger than for temperate species.
Tropical sawnwood imports were 20,636 cu.m., up 23%
from June. The additional volumes came primarily from
Brazil and Africa (Congo, Cameroon and Ghana).
Ipe imports from Brazil doubled from the previous month
to 2,539 cu.m. in July. Total Brazilian shipments to the US
were 3,767 (+16% year-to-date).
Imports from Cameroon were 2,474 cu.m. in July (-7%
year-to-date), with much of the increase in sapeli imports
(1,181 cu.m.). Congo/Brazzaville shipments recovered
from the low volumes in June to 1,212 cu.m. (-24% yearto-
date).
Hardwood imports from Ghana more than doubled from
June to 1,205 cu.m. (-4% year-to-date). The growth was in
exports of acajou d‟Afrique, reaching 954 cu.m. in July.
US imports of sawn tropical hardwoods
Balsa imports from Ecuador increased slightly to 3,984
cu.m., but year-to-date imports remain 19% below 2012
volumes. Tropical hardwood imports from Peru fell again
in July to just 209 cu.m. (+39% year-to-date).
Malaysian shipments declined to 2,001 cu.m. in July (+5%
year-to-date). Imports from Indonesia were 714 cu.m. (-
23% year-to-date).
Antidumping and countervailing duties on Chinese
plywood
The US Department of Commerce announced its final
determination of antidumping duties and countervailing
duties on plywood from China on September 17. The
investigations looked at dumping of hardwood and other
decorative plywood at less than fair value and whether
China‟s government provided subsidies to plywood
producers.
More than 100 plywood companies were assigned an
antidumping rate between 55.76% and 62.55%. All other
companies received a rate of 121.65%.
In the countervailing duty investigation, three companies
will not need to pay duties. Fifteen companies were
assigned a countervailing rate of 27.16% for their failure
to respond to the Department of Commerce; all other
producers and exporters were assigned a rate of 13.58%.
The US International Trade Commission held a hearing
regarding injury of American plywood producers on
September 19. A decision on injury determination is
expected for late October. If the commission finds no
injury, the antidumping and countervailing duties will be
cancelled.
American Alliance for Hardwood Plywood condemns
high duties on Chinese plywood
The American Alliance for Hardwood Plywood,
representing US distributors, importers and manufacturers,
predicts job losses in the cabinet industry as a result of the
antidumping and countervailing duties on plywood from
China.
In the short-term, the high duties create higher cost and
supply uncertainty for US buyers and users of Chinese
plywood.
The Alliance also criticized that the Department of
Commerce used Bulgaria for market comparison with
China in its determination and not an Asian country.
AHEC presents American Hardwood Environmental
Profiles
The American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) has
developed “American Hardwood Environmental Profiles”
(AHEP) to promote the legality and environmental
sustainability of US hardwoods in export markets.
AHEP is based on Life Cycle Assessment data and legality
data. The data contained in AHEP allows manufacturers
who use hardwood sawnwood from the US to prepare
formal Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for
their finished products. In the legality reporting portion,
AHEP follows the EU Timber Regulation.
AHEPs will be available for 19 hardwood species, which
represent 95% of total US hardwood production.
Individual US hardwood companies will be able to adjust
data for each specific consignment and customer location
quickly and at low cost with a software tool.
The following information is included in the AHEP: US
supplier, product description, quantity of wood,
commercial and scientific species name, place of harvest,
and documents demonstrating negligible risk of illegal
harvest, access to information on the sustainability of the
species, and quantitative data on the environmental
impacts.
The data follows the EN 15804 standard for environmental
assessment of construction materials in the EU (such as
Global Warming Potential, Acidification potential, and
Eutrophication potential).AHEC had previously
commissioned work to develop EPDs for hardwood
sawnwood. But as an intermediary product sawnwood
mostly does not require full EPDs.
The environmental impact data contained in AHEP allows
manufacturers of flooring, furniture etc. to prepare EPDs
for their finished products.
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