Billion board feet 
100 
80 
60 
Total 
40 
Softwoods 
20 Hardwoods 
0 
1950 1960 1970 1980 
1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 
Figure 3.3—Lumber consumption in the United States, 1950-84, with projections to 2030 
wood use, and total consumption in the last decade of the 
projection period rises only 0.2 billion board feet. 
In 1984 softwood species composed nearly 84.5 percent of 
the lumber consumed. However, over the projection period, 
a slow increase in the proportion of hardwoods is expected 
because of growth in uses such as shipping (pallets) and 
manufacturing (furniture), where hardwoods are relatively 
more important, coupled with declines late in the period in 
some of the major softwood markets, particularly residen- 
tial construction. 
Structural Panel Products—Structural panels (softwood ply- 
wood and oriented strand board/waferboard) consumption 
reached 22.4 billion square feet (3/8-inch basis) in 1984— 
60 percent above the volume consumed in 1970 and seven 
times total use in the early 1950’s (table 3.5, fig. 3.4). Un- 
til the 1970’s, softwood plywood was the only one of the 
products in wide use; and primarily because of its substitu- 
tion for softwood lumber, its growth was particularly fast 
in the 1950’s and 1960’s. With the introduction of wafer- 
boards and oriented strand boards and their subsequent 
substitution for softwood plywood, however, consumption 
of those products increased more rapidly. Between 1976 and 
1984, use of oriented strand board/waferboards, increased 
about 14 times, compared to about 14 percent for softwood 
plywood. 
Projections of total structural panel consumption rise to 
34.4 billion square feet in 2030, about 54 percent above 
1984 use. All of the increase over the projection period is 
due to continued growth in oriented strand board/waferboard 
consumption, which is projected to reach 15.5 billion 
square feet by 2030, more than 5.5 times its use in 1984. 
After slowly declining through 2010, softwood plywood con- 
sumption increases to about 19.0 billion square feet in 2020 
and 2030. As a result of these trends, oriented strand 
board/waferboard panels compose over 45 percent of total 
structural panel consumption in 2030, up sharply from 
about 12.5 percent in 1984. 
97 
