Global timber market review #6-2016

– A new deal is being negotiated for sawn softwood exports from Canada to the US market, after the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement expired last October, ITTO reported. The US president and Canadian prime minister announced at a recent meeting in Washington DC that negotiations would significantly advance in the next 100 days. Without an agreement US companies can file trade cases after October 2016 against imports from Canada. Many Canadian exporters would prefer a renewal of the previous agreement, which included an escalating export tax based on sawnwood prices.

– The construction of Stora Enso’s new LVL production line in Varkaus, Finland, worth €43m, is proceeding according to the schedule. The raw material supply for the production has now begun. The new production line, starting up during the second quarter of 2016, will increase the yearly usage of heavy spruce logs in Varkaus by 200,000 m3.

– International Paper will sell its corrugated packaging business in Asia, which comprises 18 mills with 3,000 employees in China and Southeast Asia, to Xiamen Bridge Hexing Equity Investment Partnership Enterprise.

– The European Commission conducts inspections at kraft paper and industrial paper sacks companies, EUWID Paper business journal reported. The EC announced it was concerned that the companies in question might have performed anti-competitive practices such as price fixing and customer allocation.

More detailed review of global market trends of roundwood, lumber, wood panels and pellets as well as news of the Russian timber industry; exclusive articles and interviews; over 25 pages of price charts are available in our digital Russian Timber Journal.