Time to diversify

By Wllllam R. Ganser, Jr. Executive Vice President Southern Forest Products Association

Story at a Glance

Flve year SFPA marftellng plan alms lo Incrcase per house lumber use. .permanent wood foundatlon, prcssur€ treatlng and repalrlrcmodellng taryeted ...goal: 1.4 bllllon b.l. Increase per year In southem plne.

offset by unexpectedly high interest rates, and what actually happened was a bust rather than a boom, at least in the first three years of the present decade.

Well aware of the adverse consequences of faulty forecasting, the board of directors of the Southern Forest Products Association has approved and initiated a five-year marketing program aimed at a variety of targets as a hedge against future recessions in homebuilding.

While housing remains the principal market for southern pine lumber, the current SFPA objective is to increase the volume of lumber used per