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Western Building Material Association presented $ 1,000 scholarships to Rachael Caspers, Zentz Lumber Co., Billings, Mt.; Michele Jain. Lumbermen's. Yakima. Wa.: Melissa Schaefer, Allweather Wood Treaters, Washougal, Wa., and Kelsey Schlerf, Stone Lumber, Nampa, Id.

Lumber Association of California & Nevada has booked DonnZea. president of the California Forest Products Commission, to speak at its annual 2nd Growth summer conference July 18-20 at the La Quinta

Top 100 Forest Products

An oversupply of lumber and decreasing demand cut in half the total profit of the world's top 100 forest products companies last year and

Resort & Club, La Quinta, Ca.

In addition, motivational speaker Jeffrey Hansler will present "Laughter Is Good for the Bottom Line."

Wood Moulding & Millwork Producers Association is holding its 40th semi-annual meeting Aug.13-16 at The Empress Hotel Victoria, B.C.

National Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association is heading West for its annual convention-to the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort, Indian Wells, Ca., Oct. 9 - I l.

Firms' Profits Plummet

should translate into additional layoffs at U.S. and Canadian sawmills. according to new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Combined, the top 100 firms earned $3.1 billion in 2002, down from $6.2 billion in 2001, on sales of $301 billion.

Profits for the 28 U.S. firms on the list fell by half, to $800 million, in part due to rising imports and restructuring charges.

According to consultant Craig Campbell, worldwide capacity of all forest products needs to fall by loTo-and most cuts would be in the U.S. and Canada, where costs are high and economic growth is stagnant.

"There's a shift toward low-cost regions, particularly the Southern Hemisphere, China and Russia," Campbell said. "There will be more migration awayfrom North America."

Despite significant job cuts at Weyerhaeuser and other large timber firms, total employment at the 28 U.S. companies increased I 1,000 to 489,000, in part due to growing operations overseas, Campbell said. Total employment among the top 100 firms worldwide was flat at 1.1 million.

Overall profitability improved. Return on equity for the U.S. firms averaged 5 .9Vo in 2002, tp from 5.27o a year earlier. The companies spent $4.4 billion on restructuring and accounting changes.

The report noted that consolidation could reduce supply, but most firms have too much debt to make new acquisitions.

The I I Canadian companies on the list increased sales, with several mills increasing production to lessen the unit cost of U.S. tariffs. Their profit more than doubled to $238 million.

Sales for the 29 European companies also rose last year, due to exports to the U.S. last year, although tepid demand in Europe cut profits by more than 5OVo.

Poor economic growth also hampered the 14 Japanese companies in the top 100.

Nine of the remaining 18 companies on the list-in Asia, Latin America and South Africa-exceeded l}Vo return on equity.