Relative Importance of Products 
The total roundwood harvest in the South represents a di- 
versity of products for both industrial and consumer use. 
Trees of sufficient diameter to be cut into lumber are har- 
vested and used mostly as sawlogs. Smaller and lower grade 
trees are the primary source of the pulpwood that pulp, 
paper, and paperboard mills process into wood fiber. 
Together, sawlogs and pulpwood accounted for 80 percent 
of total roundwood production in 1984. 
For both softwoods and hardwoods, more timber is har- 
vested for pulpwood than for any other product (fig. 1.3). 
The South produced approximately 2.2 billion cubic feet 
of softwood pulpwood and | billion cubic feet of hardwood 
pulpwood in 1984, representing 42 percent of total 
roundwood production. Sawlogs constituted 37 percent of the 
roundwood harvest and included 2 billion cubic feet of soft- 
woods and 760 million cubic feet of hardwoods. 
BB Softwoods [_] Hardwoods 
Sawlogs 
Veneer logs 
Pulpwood 
Other 
Fuelwood 
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 
Billion cubic feet 
Figure 1.3—Volume of roundwood output in the South by 
product and species group, 1984 
Average per-unit prices for sawlogs, however, run nearly 70 
percent higher than pulpwood at local points of delivery 
and over three times the stumpage price for pulpwood. As 
the higher valued product, sawlogs claimed the larger share 
of the value of roundwood output. Sawlogs accounted for 
44 percent of the delivered value for all roundwood prod- 
ucts and an even larger proportion of the stumpage value. 
At local points of delivery, softwood sawlogs had an esti- 
mated value of $2.1 billion and hardwood sawlogs, $600 
million. The corresponding stumpage values were $1.5 bil- 
lion for softwood sawlogs and $225 million for hardwood 
sawlogs. Pulpwood production was valued at $1.4 billion 
for softwoods and $425 million for hardwoods at local deliv- 
ery points, and $540 million for softwoods and $56 mil- 
lion for hardwoods as standing timber. 
Veneer logs have an even higher per-unit value than 
sawlogs. Larger, higher quality logs and bolts are needed to 
produce sheets of veneer for use in furniture, cabinets, and 
plywood. Veneer logs constituted only 9 percent of the vol- 
ume but approximately 19 percent of the stumpage value 
and 13 percent of the delivered value of roundwood output 
in the South in 1984. This production consisted of 610 mil- 
lion cubic feet of softwoods and 60 million cubic feet of 
hardwoods, with estimated delivered values of $750 mil- 
lion and $70 million, respectively. 
Other industrial products include poles and piling (almost ex- 
clusively from softwood timber) and fenceposts, cooperage 
logs and bolts, mine timbers, shingle bolts, bolts used for 
handles, wood turnings, panel products, and a variety of 
other items, and chemical wood. Some 110 million cubic 
feet of softwoods and 17 million cubic feet of hardwoods 
were harvested for other industrial products in 1984. Al- 
though important locally and for specific needs, these prod- 
ucts accounted for less than 2 percent of total roundwood 
production. Collectively, they added $160 million to the to- 
tal delivered value for all products, and most of this amount 
was contributed by poles and piling. 
Fuelwood for industrial and residential use, another major 
product from southern timberlands, increased dramatically 
in importance during recent periods when prices for min- 
eral fuels rose rapidly. In 1984, an estimated 10 percent of 
total roundwood production in the South went for 
fuelwood. This amount included 55 million cubic feet of 
softwoods and 680 million cubic feet of hardwoods. These 
quantities represented over one-fourth of the hardwood har- 
vest but only | percent of the softwood harvest. 
