The report, published monthly by Boston-based RISI, a leading information provider for the global forest products industry, also stated that the trend is expected to continue given negative indicators for both industry segments.
According to IWR estimates, indefinite and permanent paper and paperboard closures so far this year represent the loss of 7.7 million tons per year of pulpwood demand across
The latest curtailment announcements among pulp and paper mills will result in the indefinite loss of 1.6 million green tons per year of pulpwood consumption capacity, as well as the loss of 395,000 tons in temporary machine shuts, the report states. On the OSB side, the report says, the latest round of curtailments will remove about 2 million green tons per year of wood demand from North American markets.
Chris Lyddan, executive editor of the IWR, says, “With the housing market virtually dead in the water, and pulp and paper markets teetering under the weight of the general financial crisis, pulpwood demand could see unprecedented declines in most U.S. and Canadian markets.”
He continues, “Add the loss of sawlog markets, and the washout in logging capacity will become increasingly critical to an industry already battling wood supply issues.”
The rest of the report can be found at www.risiinfo.com/wf.