A new year for southern pine

By Lionel J. Landry President Southern Forest Products Association

rFHE business climate for producers of southern pine I lumber remains most challenging, just like so many other industries.

Just three years ago, our industry established record production of 16.92 billion bd. ft. Homebuilding has remained strong in these first years of the New Millennium, encouraged by low mortgage rates. Eventually, lumber supply stretched demand as market dynamics shifted in the closing quarter of 2000. Total production for 2001 remained a healthy 16.10 billion ft. Unlike the nation's economy, our industry is still in a recession due to moderate demandnot strong, not weak-with record softwood imports.

A relatively healthy housing market throughout 2OO2 is what many observers believe kept our nation's economy from remaining in a long-term recession. True, housing was strong as interest rates fell further, but lumber producers were squeezed to make a profit considering their high timber costs. Throughout 2002, a good week in the lumber business was a rare event, at best, aggravated by weak markets, and hefty import volumes. The downward production trends continued through last summer; Southern Forest Products Association estimates total 2OO2 southern pine production at 15.5 billion bd. ft., a 2.5Vo decline from 2001.

The events of Sept. ll have put the economic brakes on nonresidential construction activity, and this market segment failed to show any signs of recovery during 2002. Quite simply, lumber markets are oversupplied.

SFPA member companies produce half of the nation's southern pine lumber, and their outlook for 2003 is, at best, guarded. Most companies have curtailed operations and many mills have been shut down. If the poor economic climate persists, additional closures are a distinct possibility.

A number of factors will influence business in 2003. Softwood imports from Canada continue to impact south- ern pine's traditional framing markets. The industry's Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports was successful in obtaining a combined 27.2Vo countervailing duty.

Another hurdle for southern pine producers is increased imports from overseas. Competing softwood species from Europe and South America continue to adversely impact our domestic market. A strong dollar and foreign competitors have also hampered southern pine exports through 2002. Kiln-dried southern pine is now recognized in the materials handling markets as the logical choice to meet phytosanitary requirements for shipments to Europe.

Treated lumber markets were the bright spot for the southern pine industry rn 2002. Despite the EPA's announcement last February to remove CCA-treated products from most consumer-type residential applications by the end of 2003. the transition to non-arsenical-based preservatives proceeds smoothly. SFPA estimates treated lumber production to total 7 billion bd. ft. in 2002, dropping to 6.57 billion ft. in 2003.

Qualle (qualle@durabilt.net)

Wade Sales & Marketing Operations Manager

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Central Valley Builders Supply is remodeling its St. Helena, Ca., location and has opened up a new 30,000-sq. ft. milling, shipping and assembly facility on l3 acres in American Canyon, Ca. ...

Moscow Building Supply, Moscow, Id., has opened a new 28,000sq. ft. retail store with 65,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space and a drivethrough lumber yard

Gibson's Discount Centers this month is closing 17 stores in six states, including its six Colorado hardware stores-Delta. Canon City, Montrose, Fort Morgan, Grand Junction and Clifton ...

Home Depot this month opens new home centers in Bozeman, Mt.; Los Lunas, N.M.; SW Las Vegas, Nv.; Evergreen (Golden), Pioneer Hills (Aurora), and Saddlerock (Aurora), Co., and an Expo Design Centerin Phoenix, Az.

Home Depot is considering sites in Petaluma, Ca., and is facing an environmental study on a proposed 104,991-sq. ft. store and 24,304sq. ft. garden center in Auburn, Ca., where it has been seeking permission to build since 1997

Lowe's Cos. recently unveiled new stores in NW Albuquerque, N.M. (Rod Kerns, mgr.), and Pico Rivera, Ca. (Dan Port, mgr.), and and a replacement store in Bremerton, Wa. (Matt Simonich, mgr.) ...

Lowe's will begin construction this spring on a 137,000-sq. ft. store with 28,000-sq. ft. garden center in Bend, Or.; will co-anchor a shopping center in Chula Vista (San Diego), Ca., and is considering sites in Petaluma, Ca.

lUnorrsrrrns/trnurAcrurns

Schollenbarger Wood Treating, Bernalillo, N.M., has converted all operations to Osmose's NatureWood; Schollenbarger's products are sold exclusively through Capital Lumber Co.

Rough & Ready Lumber Co., Cave Junction, Or., is looking for a buyer or will permanently shut down the sawmill in the spring due to limited log availability

Grant Western Lumber, John Day, Or., is adding three dry kilns, which will increase its drying capacity by 1.2 million bd. ft.

Atessco Inc.has moved to a new location in Santa Rosa, Ca., with expanded wholesale storage and office space

Northern Pine Wood Products, Bonners Ferry, Id., has permanently closed ...

Huslqt Lumber Inc. is building a new mill in Nikiski, Ak., to produce I(/D, graded structural lumber, with kilns capable of drying 150,000 bd. ft. every 72 hours

Capital Lumber Co. added new shipping and receiving functions at its Chino. Ca.. division and 70.000 sq. ft. of inside storage and office space at Healdsburg, Ca. ...

Hampton Affiliate s, Portland, Or., upgraded equipment at its Darrington, Wa., mill during a three-week shutdown ...

Pacific Building Products, Sacramento, Ca., has acquired certain assets of the Winroc Corp.'s Sparks, Nv., operations

Anaheim Millworks. Anaheim. Ca., has added a new rip saw and high-speed Weinig moulder

Coe Newnes/McGehee wood products division has closed its sawmill equipment manufacturing plant in Ukiah, Ca.

S ilve rton Victo rian Millworks, Durango, Co., has filed Chapter 1l bankruptcy to reorganize; a month earlier the firm laid off about a third of its 60 employees ...

Weyerhaeuser appl\ed to rejoin the American Institute of Timber Construction to have AITC inspect production from its TrusJoist glulam plant in Vaughn, Or. ...

Kerr-McGee Chernical plans to exit the forest products business and close four creosote treating plants across the U.S.; the disposition of Ken McGee's fiflh plant in The Dalles, Or., which it leases to Union Pacific Corp., is the subject of ongoing discussions

Pope & Talbot Inc., Portland, Or., earned Sustainable Forestry Initiative certification for its Canadian woodlands operations tJ.S. Home & Garden, San Francisco. Ca., agreed to be acquired for $57 million by a management group headed by c.o.o. by Dick Grandy

The Skunk Train, the 1l7-yearold rail line/tourist attraction, is continuing on a limited winter schedule after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; financial problems began four years ago when the line stopped hauling lumber part-time

Canyon Creek Cabinet Co., Monroe, Wa., recently received an energy conservation award from the Snohomish County Public Utility District and a better workplace award from the Association of Washington Businesses

Armstrong World Industries' vinyl tile flooring plant in South Gate, Ca., won a 2002 waste reduction award from the state Western Wood Preserving Co., Sumner, Wa., donated building materials to the Pacific Harbors Council of the Boy Scouts

Stora Enso Timber U.S. Corp., Portland, Or., gave a financial gift to Portland's Doernbecher Hospital in lieu of holiday gifts and cards to customers and suppliers

Anniversaries:. Idaho Veneer co., Post Falls, Id., 5Oth Norman Lumber Co.. Medford. Or.,Zlth...

Housing starts in November (latest figures) increased 2.4Vo to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.697 million, with single family starts up 0.9Vo to 1.390 million and multi-family at a rate of 278,000 for 5+ units ... permits dropped 2.7Vo to an adjusted yearly rate of 1.725 million.

Sierra-Pacific Starts Sawmill

Sierra Pacific Industries' new Junction City, Wa., sawmill is now operational with a second shift expected be added this month.

The mill is the Redding, Ca.-based firm's first Washington operation and at full capacity is expected to produce 250 million bd. ft. a year of standard and custom dimension lumber.

According to Sierra Pacific's Jack Stanley, the mill is expected to be in full production by the end of March. Currently mill workers are putting the final touches on the planer and the plant's cogeneration facility that will produce electricity from wood waste. Also under construction is a new rail spur that serves the facility.

County permit assessments value the planer and sawmill alone at $3.9 million.

Randy Lilburn is the mill manager.

Worker Killed ln MillAccident

OSHA is investigating a sawmill accident at Intermountain Resources, Montrose. Co.. that claimed the life of a veteran millwright.

According to Montrose County Undersheriff Dick Deines, about I 1:00 a.m. Nov. 26, James "Jim" Kury, 46, evidently was attempting to free a jam in a conveyor system when a co-worker turned on the machine.

The undersheriff said workers shut down the line after machinery jammed and a chain broke, separating from the gears. Some employees left for lunch, but Kury and a co-worker stayed to repair the chain and free the jam. After fixing the chain, the co-worker returned to the control room.

"He didn't see James around and assumed James had also broken for lunch, because he couldn't see him," Deines said. Unaware that Kury had gone back in to clear more debris, the worker restarted the machine. It caught Kury's left arm and pulled him into a gear system of the conveyor. He suffered severe injuries and apparently died quickly.

Kury had worked at sawmills in Montrose; Price, Ut.; Ashland, Mt.; Auburn, Wa.; Worland, Wy., and Custer, S.D.

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INTERNATIONAL Wood Products Association held its So, Ca. reoional luncheon & business meeting Dec.10 in Long Beach, Ca. (1) Lynniorsberg, Don Hathaway. (2) Gary & Kerry Penberthy. (3) Robert Kincaid, Phil Sarris. (4) Martha Thompson, Douglas Trager. (5) Erik Nilsson, Jean-Pierre