FUTURE DEMAN'D FOR TIMBER 



451 



been on the downgi-ado, but use of many of the 

 manufactured products made directly from bolts 

 has been increasing. Assuming that the heavier 

 market losses for wood in these miscellaneous uses 

 have already been sustained, 1975 demand is 

 estimated at 350 million cubic feet or 54 percent 

 above 1952 consumption. Lower projected de- 

 mand is set at 314 million cubic feet. About 

 half of either estimate is expected to be softwood. 



Projections of Demand for All Minor 

 Industrial-Wood Products 



The various estimates of medium projected 

 demand for the minor industrial-wood products 

 in 1975 add up to 913 million cubic feet (round- 

 wood basis), about 20 percent above 1952 con- 

 sumption of 758 million cubic feet. Comparable 

 medium and upper projections of demand in 2000 

 are 1,450 and 1,740 million cubic feet or 59 and 91 

 percent, respectively, above the 1975 estimate. 

 The lower projection totals 770 million cubic feet in 

 1975 and the estimate for 2000 is 1,160 million 

 cubic feet — 51 percent above 1975 (table 263). 

 The projections to 2000 are based on the assump- 

 tions that most of the market losses by products 

 most vulnerable to competition will have occurred 

 by 1975, and that the increase of population and 

 other factors will materially enlarge the demand for 

 some products in the last quarter centuiy. 



Minor industrial-wood products consumed in 

 1952 were divided about equall,v between soft- 

 woods and hardwoods. It is expected that this 

 relationship will remain essentially unchanged in 

 the future. 



FUTURE DEMAND FOR FUELWOOD 



Because fuelwood is drawn from so many differ- 

 ent sources, any single figure cited as "fuelwood 

 consumption" or projected demand for fuelwood is 

 likely to lead to some confusion. Furthermore, 

 there is a possibility of confusion with respect to 

 wood used for fuel by industrial and other nonres- 

 idential establishments. Some estimates in the 

 past have included such wood and others have not. 

 The figures presented in this section for total fuel- 

 wood consumption, and projections of demand, do 

 include that used by nonresidential establishments 

 as well as that used in homes, whether cut pur- 

 posely for fuel or obtained from sawmills and other 

 primary manufacturing plants in the form of 

 residues. 



The large di-op in fuelwood consumption during 

 the past few decades in spite of a substantial in- 

 crease in population has been due to greater use of 

 more convenient and efficient fuels such as coal, 

 oil, gas, and electricity. Use of wood for curing 

 tobacco and in certain industries such as brickyards 

 has declined sharply because other fuels have been 

 substituted. Since 1941 the decline in use of fuel- 

 wood in homes has been particidarly rapid as the 

 result of changes in both heating and cooking fuels. 

 Between 1940 and 1950, for example, the percent- 

 age of occupied dwelling units using wood for cen- 

 tral heating or for cooking dropped from over 20 

 to less than 10 percent of the total. This decline 

 occurred in farm and rural areas as well as in cities. 



Consumption of fuelwood in homes will probably 

 decline still further as a result of such factors as 

 increased use of electricity and bottled gas in rural 



Table 263. — Estimated consumption oj minor industrial wood products, 1952, and ]irojections of demand, 



1.975 and 2000 



fRouiidwood basis] 





1952 con- 

 sumption 



Projections of demand 



Product 



19 



75 





2000 ' 







Lower 



Medium 



Lower 



Medium 



Upper 



Cooperage logs and bolts _ _ _ 



Million 



cu. ft. 



73 



28 



88 



194 



67 



81 



227 



Million 



cu. ft. 



97 



30 



67 



175 



Million 



cu. ft. 



109 



37 



88 



224 



Million 

 cu. ft. 



Million 

 cu. ft. 



Million 

 cu. ft. 



Piling _ _ _ _ - - 









Poles 









Posts (round and split) 









Hewn ties 









Mine timbers (round) . . _ _ 



87 

 314 



105 

 350 









Other minor products. 

















All minor industrial products ^ 



758 



770 



913 



1, 160 



1,450 



I 740 







' Not allocated to product. 



2 Includes volume of jjroducts recovered from plant 

 residues. Thus for 1952, the 758 million cubic feet in- 



cludes 699 million cubic feet of logs and bolts used for these 

 minor products and 59 million cubic feet (roundwood 

 equivalent) of plant residue. 



