Global Wood & Furniture Marketplace Online

ASIAN PAPER FLOODS USA
¡¾2002.04.03¡¿

ASIAN PAPER FLOODS USA

USA: The forest industry is feeling the heat as cheap paper made from tropical Asian hardwood floods its domestic market. A study by Atlanta1s Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST) paints a picture of a US forest industry grappling with decreasing global competitiveness, weakening profits, large company mergers, and deteriorating shareholder values. Experts estimate that by 2010 the global demand for paper will increase by as much as 50%, says the study, but the chance that the US can economically meet this demand growth is becoming less and less likely. To counter the trend, IPST is working with the US pulp and paper industry on somatic embryogenesis in loblolly pines, the dominant softwood timber species in the US South. This process is intended to make the industry more competitive through the replication of selected high-value, fast growing trees.

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