446 



TIMBER RESOTJRCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



Special-type veneers must meet exacting specifi- 

 cations. This material is used for decorative 

 effect in quality furniture and as facing in wall 

 paneling and flush doors. The commercial and 

 utility type is used in plj^wood for containers 

 and for cores and backing in the higher grades of 

 plywood. Container veneer is used for wire- 

 bound boxes and crates, for baskets and hampers, 

 and for other containers in which no gluing is 

 required. Flat -type veneer is used for items 

 such as ice cream spoons and sticks, tongue 

 depressors, and as parts of wooden ware and 

 novelties. 



Very little information is available to indicate 

 trends in consumption, but the volume of logs 

 and bolts processed increased rather steadily 

 from 1906 to 1951, the trend being interrupted 

 onl}" in the depression j^ears. From 1951 to 1955 

 the volume has remained at about 1 billion 

 board-feet. Prior to 1950, with the exception of 

 the war years, consumption of logs and bolts has 

 been a good indicator of the trend in the consump- 

 tion of hardwood veneer and plywood. Since 

 1950, however, net imports of hardwood veneer 

 and plywood have increased very rapidly and have 

 accounted for a significant part of total consump- 

 tion: 



Million sq.ft., surface 

 measure 



19oS 19-55 



Veneer production 10,283 ' 10, 600 



Xet imports of veneer -Ql^ 2 2, 566 



Apparent consumption 10,896 13,166 



■ Estimated. 



- Includes veneer equivalent of net imports of plywood. 



Because the uses of hardwood veneer and ply- 

 wood are so higldy diversified, a detailed use-by-use 

 analysis of future demand is not practicable here. 

 In the past few decades, liardwood plj'wood and 

 veneer consumption lias increased at a slower 

 rate than softwood plywood. Assuming that this 

 relationsliip to softwood continues, it appears 

 reasonable to expect that the demand for the 

 hardwood product in 1975 may be in the neighbor- 

 hood of 21.0 billion square feet or 60 percent 

 above 1955 consumption. Demand in the year 

 2000 is estimated at 34 billion square feet or 39 

 billion square feet. Such increases would be 

 generally in line with tlie experience of the past 

 20 to 40 years. 



Trends in Real Price and Relative 

 Consumption of Plywood 



Since the advent of plywood and other veneer 

 products as one of our major industrial raw 

 materials is of comparatively recent origin, long- 

 term price information is available only for 

 interior-grade Douglas-fir plywood (table 260). 

 In terms of the index of average price (1947-49 = 

 100), the price of such plywood rose from 33.6 



in 1936 to 106.1 in 1955. But real price rose 

 only from 64.0 in 1936 to 95.8 in 1955, an increase 

 of approximately 50 percent. The significant 

 comparison, however, is obviously not plywood 

 price in relation to commodity prices in general 

 or to prices of nonwood materials — but rather to 

 the price of lumber, for whiclx it is a major sub- 

 stitute. The price of plyw^ood in relation to the 

 price of lumber (1947^9 = 100) has come down 

 from 116.3 in 1936 to 85.3 in 1955. This decrease 

 of approximately 27 percent has undoubtedly 

 been one of tlie major reasons for the widespread 

 substitution of phnvood for lumber. ^^^ 



Per capita consumption of logs and bolts utilized 

 in manufacture of veneer products has climbed 

 from 3.85 board-feet in 1906 to 20.76 board-feet 

 in 1955 — a fivefold increase (table 261). Adjust- 

 ing this upward trend for the general upward 

 trend in per capita consumption of all the physical- 

 structure materials shows that relative consump- 



Table 260. — Average annual price of softwood 

 plywood in relation to all commodity prices, and 

 to price of lumber, 1936-55 



[1947-49=100] 





Average 









Price of 





annual 



All-com- 



Real 



Average 



plywood 



Year 



price 



modity 



price of 



annual 



relative 





of ply- 



price 



ply- 



price of 



to price 





wood 1 



index 



wood 2 



lumber 



of lum- 

 ber 3 



1936 



33. 6 



52. 5 



64.0 



28.9 



116. 3 



1937 



33. 5 



56. 1 



59. 7 



33. 1 



101.2 



1938 



32.9 



51. 1 



64. 4 



29. 



il3. 4 



1939 



33. 7 



50. 1 



67.3 



31.0 



108.7 



1940 



35. 1 



51. 1 



68. 7 



34. 2 



102.6 



1941 



39. 1 



56.8 



68.8 



40. 7 



96. 1 



1942 



38.8 



64.2 



60. 4 



44. 2 



87.8 



1943 



42.8 



67. 



63. 9 



47.0 



91. 1 



1944 



43.7 



67.6 



64. 6 



50. 9 



85.9 



1945 



43.7 



68.8 



63. 5 



51. 5 



84.9 



1946 



54. 2 



78.7 



68. 9 



59. 3 



91. 4 



1947 



89. 3 



96.4 



92. 6 



94.5 



94. 5 



1948 



113. 5 



104. 4 



108.7 



107.3 



105.8 



1949 



97.2 



99.2 



98. 



98. 2 



99.0 



1950 



112. 



103. 1 



108.6 



114. 5 



97.8 



1951 



117. 3 



114. 8 



102.2 



123.6 



94.9 



1952 



107.2 



111. 6 



96. 1 



120. 5 



89.0 



1953 



107. 1 



110. 1 



97.3 



119. 3 



89.8 



1954 



103.0 



110. 3 



93. 4 



117.3 



87.8 



1955 



106. 1 



110.7 



95.8 



124. 4 



85.3 



1 Douglas-fir plywood, interior grade. 



- Obtained by dividing the inde.x for average annual 

 price of plywood by the corresponding all-commodity 

 price index. 



3 Obtained by dividing the index for average annual 

 price of plywood by the corresponding index for average 

 price of lumber. 



Source: U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor 

 Statistics. Index of Wholesale Prices. 



'5' Other reasons include the savings in labor of installa- 

 tion and the standardization of the product as to quality 

 and dimensions. 



