Plywood chief hits housing

THE HOUSINC industry, chief market - Ior softwood plywood produced in the United States, is performing "rather poorIy" on a competitive basis with other industries, according to the executive vice president of the American Plywood Association.

James R. Turnbull, speaking at the association's 32nd annual meeting in Gearheart, Ore,, said housing starts have remained nearly the same in the past 20 years while population has increased about 36 percent.

With its major market in the doldrums, the so{twood plywood industry in the U.S. {ailed to show a gain in 1967 for the first time since 1960, Turnbull noted. Total production in 1967 dropped slightly below the 13 billion square feet level of 1966.

Turnbull said an improvement in the housing market in the forepart of 1968 is mainly responsible lor a L4.7 percent gain in softwood plywood production in the first five months of this year compared with the equivalent period last ycar.

"lf it continues at this rate, we will end up the year at 14.9 billion square feet," Turnbull said. "but I do not think we will maintain this rate of gain. I do think our original targets of an B percent growth and a 14 billion square foot total are attainable goals for 1968." hupralWLablalgLunbp,t fuo*ftu, pru o[ Rp/ruood, S pht Pr,odudr & SrlunDmdradt.

Eugene A. Gulledge, first vp. of the National Association of Home Builders, predicted a substantial decline in housing starts this year.

Gulledge said the national housing market in 1968 would probably drop to 1,350,000 starts from an earlier expected I.5 to I.6 million.

Gulledge blamed what he termed "a credit crunch" in which the housing industry had been placed by the economy.

He complained about the government use of the housing industry as a stabilizing "yo-yo" on the nation's economy. "The government flooded building funds into the market to spur the economy and then slowed them down to a trickle to cool things ofi," he said.

Creation of a forum of all land users to establish the best uses of the nation's laird resource was proposed by William H. Hunt, president o{ the American Plywood Association.

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Wood Promolion Efforts Continue

A national promotion program for wood products, combining the joint efiorts of various industry associations, has ,been proposed by the Economic Council of the Forest Products Industry.

The program, under development since 1965, was presented to a group of industry association presidents and chief executives meeting reoently in San Francisco. The program was unveiled by L. L. Stewart, president of the Bohemia Lumber Co., Inc., Culp Creek, Ore., who heads the committee of past chairmen of the Economic Council.

Stewart said the program envisions merging the present Wood Marketing, Inc., and Forest Products Promotion Council into a new promotion organization tenta. tively named "W'ood Promotion Council." on widening the channels of communications among associations representing these groups at the national, regional and state levels.

Industry Strives to Cooperule

The top staft executives oI some 30 forest products industry manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing organizations met in Dallas, Texas, recently for a forest products industry inter-association meetirg'

The two-day discussion of topics of mutual interest to the producer and distributor segments of the forest products industry, the first of its kind ever held, centered

Subject areas covered included: (1) methods to. enhance mutual understanding and support for legislative programs and federal agency administrative policies; (2) a regional, state and national interchange of information on building construction statistical and marketine data; (3) programs to improve the image of individual associations and the building construction industry and its various arms; (4) exchange opportunities for raw material availability, promotion and pubUl{ITEll

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AFPC Wins Sofety ,Aword

American t'orest Products Corporation's subsidiary, General Box Distributors, received the highest award presented by the Cali{ornia Lumbermen's Accident Prevention Association at their annual meeting. The Nat Edwards Memorial Plaque is awarded yearly to the member company working over 300,000 hours with the lowest lost time accident frecuency.

Eric Roby received the award for General Box. Roby, as manager of AFPC's insurance department spearheads the company's safety program.

In addition to GBD's extensive manu{acturing operations at Fresno, the award included operation o{ two sawmills, one at Oakhurst and one at Dinkey Creek. (The Oakhurst mill had no lost time accidents for the entire year. ) Combined working hours for the three operations totaled just under one million during t967.

In addition to participating as a member of CLAPA. American Forest Prod- ucts Corporation has conducted its own sa{ety award program for the past IB years in an efiort to promote an even higher degree of safety {or employees.

Wood's World Morket Unlimited

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization says that construction in developing nations has produced an almost limitless market for plywood, fibreboard and particle board.

Vorld output of wood-based panels soared this year to more than 30 million tons and demand is expected to double by 1975.

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