Continued strong plywood demand seen

Members of the American Plywood Association heard the good news at their Fall Meeting, in Biloxi, Ms., that the plywood industry is in the midst of its third consecutive record production year.

And while a home building decline will impact the 1979 plywood market, strong demand from nonhousing applications should hold next year's production to a level only a quarter billion square feet below the anticipated 19.5 billion feet of 1978.

For 1980. the outlook is for resumed industry growth, with production expected to go over the 20 billion foot mark. . given continued promotional effort.

The importance of promotion as the key factor in protecting and enlarging today's diversified plywood markets was stressed by APA Board Chairman Frank V. Langfitt, Jr., a Georgia-Pacific v.p.

He pointed to an expected home building decline as the main reason why the plywood industry's string of record production will undergo a "pause" in 1979.

"Higher interest rates and a tighter supply of mortgage dollars will take its toll on home building," he said. "It now appears there will be at least 150,000 fewer singlefamily housing starts next year, or roughly 1.15 million units. Multifamily construction should hold its own or show a slight increase." (Total starts this year are estimated at 1.85 million units. The estimate for 1979 is 1.7 million total units.)

Langfitt commented that in the past, a l2o/o deuease in single- family housing starts would have caused a similar decline in plywood production. "Thanks to our industry's highly successful market diversification program, the American Plvwood Association is forecasting a drop in next year's production of less than 2ol0," he a of advised.

Among markets compensating for the housing falloff, Langfitt cited the "booming" residential repair and remodeling sector, likely to consume nearly 4 billion sq. ft. of production next year; industrial applications, expected to require about 3.2 billion feet; nonresidential construction, targeted as a 2.5 billion sq. ft. market in 1979; and exports.

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