Japan Wood Products
Prices
Dollar Exchange Rates of
13th June. 2008
Japan Yen 108.21
Reports From Japan
At 500th anniversary, JLR examines history and
prospects for Japanese wood sector
Japan Lumber Reports (JLR) published its 500th edition,
which contained a special issue on past events in and
prospects for the Japanese wood industry. Since the
publication’s inception, there were a number of major
events that shaped the wood industry over the last 22
years, a number of which are mentioned below. Most
recently, the announcement and subsequent
implementation of the high Russian log export duty from
25% to 80% by 2009 is expected to have a major impact
on the Japanese wood trade, since Russian logs are the
highest imported amount of logs by volume. Secondly,
since the wood industry has had to reduce its reliance on
imports, Japan’s domestic forest resources have been
growing. Third, forest resources in South East Asia have
been declining. Fourth, plywood manufacturing has made
way for substitution by other products such as
particleboard, MDF, insulation board, and OSB.
Other factors that have shaped the Japanese wood industry
in the last 20 years include: the restructuring of the wood
product trading businesses; the review of house safety
after the 1995 Kobe earthquake, which shifted house
construction away from wooden units; the aging
population and decreasing birth rate in Japan; the
acceptance of global warming as an important global
issue; and the introduction of European products.
Regarding prospects for the 2008 wood trade, JLR
believes that it will be difficult for businesses in Japan to
recover after Japanese housing starts dropped to new lows
last year due to the introduction of the Revised Building
Standards Act. It was also expected that lumber production
would slightly decrease as would production at plywood
mills. Plywood prices were expected to remain unchanged
through the year. Japan was also beginning to search for
alternatives to Russian logs for plywood mills and will
look mostly to domestic sources for replacement species.
|
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 |
|
|
|
