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USA: Solid Wood Flooring Shipments Climb 10% In July

¡¾2002.08.20¡¿

USA: Solid Wood Flooring Shipments Climb 10% In July

July shipments of Solid Wood Flooring are usually at the lowest or next-to-lowest level for the year. That has been the case for at least the last eight consecutive years and is also the case through seven months into 2002. However, NOFMA: The Wood Flooring Manufacturers Association reports Solid Wood Flooring shipments for July 2002 reached 45,512,000 board feet for an 11 percent increase from the same reporting period last year, which is the highest total for any July on record since the re-emergence of the Solid Wood Flooring market.

Year to date figures from NOFMA show a total of 356,863,000 board feet being shipped; that number amounts to a 10.1 percent increased in volume from the first seven months of 2001. Solid Wood Flooring shipments for the last 12 successive months (August 2001 through July 2002) stand at 612,164,000, while shipments for the 2001 calendar year ended at 579,557.

Clearly, demand for Solid Wood Flooring is growing. Strength from new housing construction is credited as a principal factor for the continued expansion of sales, and based on the estimated number of permits issued for starts, no slowdown in activity is expected anytime soon. Remodeling is another contributing factor to total demand for Solid Wood Flooring. The U.S. Census Bureau reports expenditures for maintenance and repairs, improvements, alterations and major replacements for first quarter 2002 reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $168.5 billion. By comparison, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the value of private construction put into place for new housing is at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $293.5 billion.

Source:USA HMR News