Gypress moving into redwood and cedar's turt

f ONG used as fencing. siding and .l-,Jpaneling. primarily near the Southeastern coastal communities where it grows, cypress has begun making in-roads into new applications and regions, once the domain of redwood. cedar and other species.

According to Bill Bell, owner and general manager of strictly cypress Kempfer Sawmill Inc., St. Cloud, Fl., "Over the last five to seven years, redwood and western red cedar have both become harder to come by, more expensive, less available, and their quality appears to have gone down. People who have sold redwood and cedar for years are starting to look for alternatives. All along, cypress was just kind of sitting, waiting in the wings."

Certainly, with an entire cypress industry producing a combined 100 to 120 million bd. ft. a year-"a spit in the ocean of the overall U.S. lumber volume," says Bell-its threat is limited.

Cypress, agrees Donald Elder, Elder Forest Products, Sulphur, La., "will always be a limited thing. Sierra Pacific probably has a single mill that annually produces more lumber than the entire cypress industry does combined."

Still, proponents argue that cypress' limitations are more perception than reality. "It's somewhat lim- ited, but there's plenty out there to handle growth," notes Bell. "The drawback of cypress is that it is produced at relatively small mills and, as such, has never had leverage from a broad marketing standpoint, like southern pine."

Bell claims the time is ripe for quality substitutes. "Cypress is such a unique species," he says. "It is one of the most beautiful woods there is, and it has the same tensile strength as southern yellow pine, a tight grain structure, resists decay and rot, works well inside and out, and has an enormous range of users. Windows, doors, turnings, it can go to all those places. The outdoor furniture market is wide open, playground equipment, hot tubs, furniture components, novelty-type things like boat paddles, cypress shakes for houses."

For about a year, Product Sales Co., Orange, Ca., has been selling cypress "all over Southern California," says sales rep Doug Willis. "After a slow start, it's now selling pretty well, primarily due to the lack of redwood items, especially in beveled siding."

The firm has run other products, including tongue-and-groove items. paneling and other siding patterns, and Willis foresees gradual growth "on the upper ends of the grade, to replace upper grade redwood and cedar. As yet, we have not brought in any common grades (of cypress)."

Product Sales' main cypress supplier, Elder Forest Products, received its first order from California in the spring of 1999, and has been shipping finished beveled and bungalow sidings, interior paneling and a complete line o[ planer blanks there ever since.

Donald Elder attributes cypress' success out West to "its availability in some specialty items. It's a stable wood. It finishes well, to so many different color variants. It has tremendous physical properties, and is considerably stronger than redwood or cedar. As well, people may be seeing it for the first time."

"We are receiving more inquiries from (the West), but have sold very little there," says Gary Barnes, Barnes Lumber Manufacturing, Statesboro, Ga. "Our cut-off point is about Missouri. with almost all of our business localized in the Southeast."

Barnes does get calls. "Last week, we had an inquiry from a guy in California. I think he was interested in hot tub components," he says. "But if it's going to the West Coast, it has to compete with western red cedar, Douglas fir and other species there, so freight becomes a problem."

There's also a big new player, Universal Forest Products, reportedly the nation's leading supplier of wood components. Last summer, Universal signed on as the exclusive sales agent for Sunshine State Cypress, Inc., Hosford, Fl., Florida's largest cypress producer. The pact will provide Universal with 10 million bd. ft. annually of cypress lumber that will be remanufactured at its Moultrie, Ga., facility.

With its established distribution network, Universal expects to introduce cypress to a range of new markets. "Our new products include timbers for log home manufacturers, pattern stock for spa builders, a lot of different sidings, even canoe paddles-for whatever we can interest anyone to use cypress," says Pete Boven, Universal's vice president of operations for the Southeast region. "We have received inquiries from playground manufacturers, window and door people, flooring material, and interior paneling producers."

He adds: "We've been actively selling cypress for about seven months and we've received a tremendous reception. Buyers recognize its inherent beauty, so they want to look at the species and see if it can work for them." also a clique market; they like something different."

Universal is selling only finished products, including a higher line of dry, surfaced fence pickets for the pro fencer. "Right now we're kicking a lot of tires," says Boven, noting that he expects the specialty items to fare better in the West. "By the time you truck it all the way to the West Coast, cypress fencing will be more expensive than redwood and cedar," he explains. "lt makes more sense as pattern stock for a spa manufacturer, who buys it very selectively and pays more for it."

Further expanding cypress' market area is one goal. "As far as fencing, we've gotten calls from Texas to Virginia. For grade lumber, paneling and siding, from the Midwest to New England. Spa manufacturers on the West Coast. We have a rep in the United Kingdom, and we're considering exporting to the Orient, where cypress traditionally is very popular."

As a hardwood producer, Roy O. Martin specializes in supplying remanufacturers, so wood headed west is destined for kitchen cabinets, door panels, mouldings and other interior architectural applications.

Georgia-Pacific, Atlanta, Ga., on the other hand, is content concentrating on the Southeast. "I don't know of any new business out of the East," says Pat Kenny. "We've had a stronger hold on the East than our competitors because we were the volume that made it happen. We drove the market. It was business for us to lose. So. it's in our best interest to contain [o an area where it has fewer problems and customers are familiar with it."

For the last few years, Roy O. Martin Lumber Co., Alexandria, La., has sold cypress to the Far East, including furniture markets in China and Taiwan. According to Jonathan Martin. "The trend is to widen our customer base. The bulk of our sales are still to our local market, but we have an ample supply of logs, so we're always looking for new places to sell."

Targeted domestic markets include the Midwest (Kansas and the Oklahoma City/Tulsa area), Denver and Southern California. "We're looking at the Los Angeles/San Diego market," says Pat Abbney, domestic hardwood sales manager. "The attraction is that is primarily a redwood and cedar market. But much of the redwood and cedar now is second and third growth, with a lot of sapwood and less red heart. (Customers) are not quite as happy with it. It's

Another reason is that last year G-P permanently shuttered its cypress mill in Alcolu, S.C. Although the company continues operating two other South Carolina mills that produce cypress, the closure, Kenny says, "cut our cypress production in half, and we don't expect to be able to replace that production. We're now trying to carve our niche with smaller volume."

Coastal Lumber Co.. Weldon. N.C., "ships an occasional load away from the East Coast, but most of our markets are the same remanufacturers we've always sold to," according to Lyman Shipley.

He wouldn't be surprised, though, to one day find his company selling cypress farther west. "It may turn into that, because of promotion of the species," Shipley says. "Cypress used to be used in a lot of siding, but is now losing part of that market to substitutes. As a result, a lot of cypress is going into interior products such as millwork."

Cypress manufacturers don't expect to overtake the nation, but they would like to make a dent. Notes Elder: "Our product is used coast to coast-there are just some places in between that we have to reach."