Authors: Joseph A. Roos, Daisuke Sasatani, Valerie Barber and Ivan Eastin Executive SummaryWith the U.S. housing market at a seventeen year low, it is becoming increasingly important to find global markets for U.S. forest products. One market that values Alaska forest products and offers tremendous opportunity is Japan. However, due to a previously strong U.S. Dollar, […]
Authors: Joseph A. Roos, Valerie Barber, Daisuke Sasatani and Ivan Eastin Executive SummaryThe Japanese glulam beam market has been growing steadily since the early 1990’s. From 1993 to 2007, total glulam beam usage increased from 199,300 cubic meters to 1,814,100 cubic meters. Japanese glulam beam supply comes from both domestic production and imports. In 2007, 65% […]
Authors: Ivan Eastin and Craig Larsen Executive SummaryFor fifteen years between 1989 and 2004, US exports of softwood lumber were mired in decline. During this period, the volume of US softwood lumber exports plunged from approximately 8 million m 3 to less than 2 million m 3 . This trend was a reflection of the relatively […]
1/1/2005 Authors: Daisuke Sasatani, Joseph A. Roos, Allen M. Brackley and Ivan Eastin Executive Summary Alaska exports to Japan decreased dramatically during the 1990’s. This decline was caused by a variety of factors including the Japanese recession, a reduced Alaska timber supply, exchange rates, a market shift from green lumber to kiln dried lumber, and increased […]
Authors: Ivan Eastin, Joseph Roos and Peter Tsournos Executive Summary Despite the poor economy in Japan, there remain promising niche markets for Alaskan softwood lumber. The unique characteristics of Alaskan softwood species are well suited to the demands of the Japanese market in general and Japanese post and beam home builders in particular. In addition, Alaskan […]
Authors: Kyle Cunningham and Ivan Eastin Executive SummaryJapanese housing starts reached a high of 1.64 million in 1996 as homeowners rushed to beat the consumption tax increase scheduled for 1997. The Asian economic downturn and various other factors caused housing starts to fall to 1.2 million in 1998. The decline in housing starts, in conjunction with […]
Authors: Ivan Eastin, Paul Boardman and John Perez-Garcia Executive SummaryBackground to the StudyThe lack of competitiveness of Japan’s wood producers, continued growth in imported lumber and wood products, and a growing unmanaged timber stock on Japanese national and private forests spurred the Japanese government to review lumber imports and its relation to its depressed wood products […]
Authors: Ivan Eastin, Joseph Roos and Paul Boardman Executive SummaryIn response to weakened demand for imported wood building materials within the 2×4 segment of the housing industry, a number of US exporters have begun to explore opportunities in the post & beam and prefabricated housing markets. In order to develop a better understanding of the problems […]
Author: Jun Fukuda Executive SummarySince the early 1980s, the US has worked to persuade Japan to open its wood products market to US products through various channels including bilateral talks, multilateral negotiations, and regional alliances. In response, Japan has reluctantly liberalized and deregulated its wood products imports through tariff reductions, building standards revisions, and foreign product […]
Authors: Robert Y. Hashizume and Ivan L. Eastin Executive SummaryJapan is the largest export destination for the US and the second largest export destination for Canada (after the US). The Japanese residential construction housing industry is the main driver of forest products exports to Japan. There were 1.4 million residential housing starts in Japan compared to […]
