346 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



In the case of the exploited hardwood forests, 

 best judgment indicates that removals from the 

 forest may be only one-half to three-fourths of the 

 growth. In the United States, and in other parts 

 of the world as well, certain hardwoods can be and 

 are being substituted for softwoods. As research 

 discovers ways of using hardwood species for 

 products traditionally made of softwoods, acceler- 

 ation in hardwood use may reduce somewhat the 

 pressure on the softwood resource. 



Canada, United States, and Free 

 Europe DoMmATE World Timber 

 Trade 



The equivalent of about one-ninth of the total 

 Free World fellings of roundwood entered inter- 

 national trade in 1953 either in round or processed 

 form. The extent of the foreign trade for major 

 world regions is indicated by the following 

 tabulation: " 



Regional fellings 



Foreign trade 



Soft- Hard- Imports Exports 



Total woods {billion woods (billion (billion (biUion 



Region cu.ft.) cu. ft.) cu. ft.) cu.ft.) 



North America. 15.0 11.0 4.0 1.53 1.73 



Latin America.. 5. 6 .4 5. 2 .15 .08 



Free Europe___ 6.7 4.0 2.7 1.92 1.97 



Free Asia 4.7 1.3 3.4 . 26 . 18 



Pacific Area. _. .8 .2 .6 . 06 . 01 



Africa 4.0 .1 3.9 . 13 . 08 



Total... 36. 8 



17. 



19. 8 



4. 05 4. 05 



The volumes entering international trade include 

 trade between countries within each world region 

 as well as trade between world regions. Viewing 

 the situation by world regions, only free Europe 

 and North America show a net export. The other 

 regions of the Free World are net importers. 



Pinpointing the situation, three countries — 

 Canada, Finland, and Sweden — account for 69 

 percent of the Free World's wood-product exports 

 (on roundwood equivalent basis) ; two countries — 

 the United States and the United Kingdom — 

 account for 57 percent of the Free World's wood- 

 product imports. 



Canada, Finland, and Sweden export chiefly 

 paper, woodpulp, pulpwood, and softwood lumber. 

 The United States imports chiefly newsprint paper, 

 woodpulp, and softwood lumber, while for the 

 United Kingdom the order of importance in 



" Source: World Forest Resources, Food and Agriculture 

 Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy, pp. 

 1-120, illus., 1955. Data for North America revised to 

 agree with statistics for individual countries given in 

 other parts of this report. 



imports is softwood lumber, woodpulp, pit props, 

 and paper. From the character of the import and 

 export items of those nations that dominate world 

 trade in timber products, it is apparent that the 

 backbone of such trade is in softwood products. 



The pattern of world trade in various forest 

 products varies greatly depending upon the bulk 

 and relative value of the individual products. For 

 example, there apparently is almost no limit on the 

 distance that newsprint and other paper and some 

 pulp items can be shipped. At the other extreme, 

 fuelwood is seldom exported, or transported very 

 far even within a country. International trade in 

 forest products is therefore practically limited to 

 industrial wood or the products processed from 

 industrial wood. 



The bulk of the trade in newsprint paper is 

 from Canada to the United States. Most of the 

 woodpulp trade is from Canada and Europe to 

 the United States. The flow of softwood lumber 

 is more diversified, although a large volume moves 

 from Canada to the United States and to Europe. 

 The flow of hardwood lumber is stfll more diver- 

 sified, with free Europe, free Asia, Africa, and 

 South America participating importantly. 



Free Europe Likely To Need Its Own 

 Output 



Because free Europe accounts for 45-50 percent 

 of the volume of world trade in forest products, 

 because much of the European international trade 

 is in softwoods, and because in the past Europe 

 has exported a considerable volume of forest 

 products to the United States, it will be helpful to 

 consider more closely the free European softwood 

 timber-supply situation. 



Since 1935, free European sawn softwood con- 

 sumption has shrunk by a fifth. Several factors 

 have contributed to this. During the Nazi regime 

 the cut of the German-controlled forests exceeded 

 the allowable cut of their management plans in 

 order to support the German military operations. 

 This overcut continued during the first \^ears of 

 occupation. Accordingly, the restoration of Ger- 

 man forests to former productivity requires a 

 reduction in annual cut for an extended period. 

 A parallel situation prevails in certain other coun- 

 tries. It is expected that within one to three 

 decades European forests will again be able to 

 support heavier cutting. A sharp curtailing of the 

 output of timber products in some exporting coun- 

 tries has reduced the volume of exports available 

 to other countries, even though the proportion 

 of the output going into export may have been 

 approximately maintained. 



