SP market outlook

lly Karl W. l,lndberg President Southern ljorest Products Association

Aff$,,

November.

completing a seventh year of expansion in the U.S. economy is an eighth consecutive working on year as it heads into the new decade of the '90s. How long can we have one sunny day after the other before it ' eventually rains? Not forever, of course. But 7 oerhaos lonc,er \ itran manv ot--us suspect. "The only invincible thing in this world is the American consumer," notes a financial analyst.

Yet consumers still buy raincoats and umbrellas. And despite the essential optimism of the southern pine lumber industry, we too are prepared for some rainy days in the I 990s.

Several years ago, our industry saw the demographic handwriting on the wall of homebuilding, and factored into our plans the prospect of a declining housing market in the years ahead. We rely less and less on supplying framing lumber for the housing sector, and more and more on diversified markets such as engineered wood systems, exports and treated products.

What that has meant in the latter part of the '80s is not only the stimulation of new demand, but a buffer against a sudden braking of the economy and a related crash of the homebuilding market.

Slory at a Glane

Southern pine market targets engineered & framing, treated residential, exports, industrial and repair & remodeling markets, beefs up promotions with goal of 13.5 billion bf by 1995.

For the '90s, the southern pine lumber industry has extended this strategy by launching another five year marketing program. This $7.5 million program, called Marketing

Marathon ll. aims to boost southern pine lumber demand by an additional 900 million board feet during the first five years of the new decade just ahead. Marketing Marathon I, 1985 - 1989, hiked southern pine lumber production form 10,5 to 12.6 billion board feet.

Expecting some rainy days in the years ahead, Marketing Marathon ll has set a lower goal - looking to ratchet up production to 13.5 billion board feet by the beginning of 1995. lf the gods keep letting the sunshine in, we may do even better than that.

Marketing Marathon ll targets five segments: engineered & framing; treated residentiall exports; industrial (non-building), and repair & remodeling (whitewoods). The marketing program will use aggressive advertising and public relations, combined with focused promotions to target audiences on the advantages of using southern pine lumber.

"The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous," says management guru Peter Drucker. To which we might add that a second aim of our diversified program is to spread the risk so we can shift to another marketplace if raindrops start falling in a particular sector.

So we look forward to more sunshine, but we're ready for rain, just in case.