Hardwood lumber production: 1970'83

TOTAL HARDWOOD LUMBER PRODUCTION ir OTAL hardwood Production I for the years 1970 through 1983 is shown on Graph I with sPace Provi-

Story at a Glance

Hardwood lumber production reflects the building slumP... stats for 1983-84 looking uP. exports continue to rise. .. three areas remain fairly con. slanl.

ded for filling in the 1984 total figure. Production for 1982 at 5,004 billion board feet was the lowest of the 13

HARDWOOD LUMBER PRODUCTION BY REGION

(Note: figures on Grapls I and II use billion boardfeet while Graph III uses million board feet. Zeros have been dropped in all figura.)

Graph III

year period, with 1975 being the next lowest at 5,872 BBF. Peak year was 1978 with 7,402 BBF. This over 7,000 BBF production held for three years before dropping to 6,194 BBF inl98l at the beginning of the building slump.

GraphII showing hardwood lumber production by region reflects the peaks and valleys of the total production curve.

The variable between Southern and Appalachian production remained fairly stable until 1982 when Appalachia produced only 921 BBF, its lowest production in 13 years. The best year for that region was 1978 with 1,533 BBF produced.

Production from areas classified as "other" remained fairly constant except for the 197-80 jump to 2,611 BBF, then a drop to 2,581 and 2,533 before beginning the slump of the 80's. Southern production varied only slightly during the period charted with a variable of I106 BBF between 1970, the highest production year, and 1983, the lowest production period.

Graph III tracing hardwood lumber exports shows an almost constant upward flow since 1970 despite dips between 1972-75, 1978-79 and l98l-82. The 1982-83 period shows the most dramatic rise. Total increase in the past 13 years has been just over 328 MBF.

The National Forest Products Association, which prepared all three charts, used the figures from its new publication, "Monthly Statistics for the Wood Products Industry," for Graph III.