Table 3.7—Pulpwood consumption, exports, imports, and production in the United States, specified years 1952-84, with projections 
to 2030 
Million cords 
Production 
Roundwood 
Year Consumption Exports Imports Total Total Softwoods Hardwoods Chips! 
1952 Dil ee (*) 2.1 25.0 23.5 20.0 3.5 1.6 
1962 44.1 0.1 1.4 42.8 33.3 24.3 9.0 9.4 
1970 69.6 2.0 1.1 70.5 50.2 36.7 13.6 20.2 
1976 Tae) 3.3 1.1 77.4 47.6 33.0 14.7 29.8 
1984 91.4 1.9 1.8 91.5 54.8 34.7 20.0 36.8 
Projections 
Demand for U.S. pulpwood 
Roundwood from U.S. timberland 
Demand Plant by- 
Year in U.S. mills Exports Imports Total Total Softwoods Hardwoods products 
1990 100.1 2.3 1.4 101.0 59.6 36.4 23.2 41.4 
2000 112.2 1.9 1.3 112.8 69.2 39.2 30.0 43.7 
2010 123.6 1.7 12 124.1 79.3 42.1 37.2 44.8 
2020 133.8 1.6 1.1 134.3 86.8 43.6 43.2 47.5 
2030 142.3 1.5 1.0 142.8 94.5 45.3 49.2 48.4 
' Includes primary processing plant byproducts, such as slabs, edgings, and veneer cores, as well as unknown volumes of pulp chips produced 
directly from roundwood at logging sites and other locations remote from pulpmills. 
* Less than 50,000 cords. 
Note: Data may not add to totals because of rounding. 
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Derived from data published by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of 
the Census; the American Paper Institute; and the American Pulpwood Association. 
Projections: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 
The long downward trend in the use of miscellaneous 
roundwood products appears to have bottomed out in re- 
cent years. Since the mid 1970’s, consumption has been 
gradually increasing. Consequently, it has been assumed that 
demand for these products (including roundwood for ori- 
ented strand board, waferboard, and particleboard) will rise 
slowly to 1.0 billion cubic feet in 2030. Much of the 
increase is expected to come from expanding consumption 
of roundwood for these board products as competition for 
byproducts for use in their manufacture becomes more 
intense. 
Consumption and Projected Demands for Fuelwood— 
Total fuelwood consumption in 1984 was an estimated 49 
million cords, or about 3.9 billion cubic feet. Of the total, 
46 percent, or 1.6 billion cubic feet, was roundwood har- 
vested from growing stock trees. The remainder came from 
a variety of sources, including trees that grow on land other 
than timberland, such as fence rows and urban areas; 
rough, rotten, and dead trees on timberland; materials left 
in the forest after harvests; and plant byproducts. About 80 
percent of the total harvested from growing stock was 
hardwoods. 
Fuelwood was the major source of energy in the United 
States until the 1870’s. However, over the next century 
fuelwood use dropped sharply, supplanted by fossil fuels and 
electricity. By 1970, less than 2 percent of all the house- 
holds in the United States used wood (nearly all roundwood) 
as their primary heating fuel and less than 1 percent as 
103 
