Billion board feet 
100 
80 
60 
40 
20 
0 
1950 1960 1970 
1980 
1990 2000 
Figure 9—Lumber consumption, 1950—86, with projections to 2040. 
when consumption of softwood 
plywood also begins to rise. 
Consumption of wood in the 
manufacture of pulp, paper, and 
paperboard grew rapidly in the decades 
following World War II (fig. 11). This 
growth in demand was in response to 
rapid growth in the economy, which 
stimulated consumption of packaging 
and other pulp-based products. Much 
of the increase in consumption of wood 
fiber during the 1960’s and 1970’s 
came from the byproducts of lumber 
and plywood manufacture. In recent 
years, the use of hardwood roundwood 
has increased, and this is expected to 
continue in the future. In the 1970's, 
demand for pulp, paper, and 
paperboard became more susceptible to 
economic cycles. By the mid-1980’s, 
however, consumption was again at 
record levels. 
The oil-price shocks of the 1970's 
caused many structural shifts in the 
U.S. economy. The major impact on 
timber demand in the United States 
was the reversal of a long decline in the 
use of fuelwood (fig. 12). Rising costs 
for oil and natural gas stimulated both 
commercial and noncommercial 
demand for wood as fuel. These 
structural shifts involved new 
investments in technology and 
equipment that are not easily reversed. 
As a result, consumption of fuelwood 
continued to increase in the 1980's 
despite sharp declines in crude oil 
prices. Although there has been a 
2010 
wood 
2020 2030 2040 
respite in energy price rises in the 
1980's, these prices will probably 
increase significantly after the turn of 
the century, with the result that 
fuelwood demand is expected to 
continue to grow over the long term. 
Demand may be dampened by 
concerns over the effect of 
woodburning on air quality and by the 
increasing cost of insurance for homes 
burning wood. 
The longrun demands for all major 
timber products are projected to go up 
over the next 5 decades. The projection 
methodology used takes into account 
the effects of supplies of products and 
projects market equilibrium measures 
of demand and supply. Consumption 
levels for pulpwood and fuelwood rise 
