Changes in international trade in timber 
products can greatly influence the timber 
situation in the South and the Nation. 
Doubling exports of the major timber 
products, for example, would substantially 
increase the demand on timber resources in 
the South, chiefly for pulpwood, and timber 
inventories would be reduced. Stumpage 
prices would rise proportionately. 
hardwoods. Softwood log exports were assumed to be re- 
placed by exports of other products. The impacts vary by 
product, however, because doubled exports of some prod- 
ucts are small in comparison to production. Impacts also 
vary by geographic section because of the location of ex- 
port markets and comparative cost differences. For 
example, production of softwood lumber and plywood drops 
below the base projections in the South but rises substan- 
tially above them in the Pacific Northwest. Consumption of 
softwood roundwood pulpwood shows the opposite pattern, 
much above the base in the South and below it in the Pa- 
cific Northwest. 
There are also sectional differences in softwood inven- 
tory changes; those in the South are considerably lower and 
those in the Pacific Northwest considerably higher than the 
base numbers. Hardwood inventories drop below the base 
projections in both regions of the South and of the North. 
Softwood stumpage prices in the South, particularly pulp- 
wood prices, are higher than those in the base, but lumber 
prices are about the same. This reflects the volumes 
involved. There are large increases in pulpwood consump- 
tion while doubled lumber exports are still small relative 
to total lumber production. Hardwood sawtimber stumpage 
prices are also above the base. There is little change, 
however, in hardwood lumber production and prices. 
The largest impact from a doubling of exports is on the 
pulp and paper industry. By 2030, for example, roundwood 
pulpwood consumption in the South is nearly a billion cu- 
bic feet above the base (fig. 4.8). There are also substan- 
tial increases, mostly from hardwoods, in the northern 
regions. 
As a result of the increase in pulpwood consumption, em- 
ployment and wages and salaries are higher than the base in 
the pulp and paper products industry in the South. 
However, about one-fourth of the amount of the increases 
is offset by decreases in the lumber and wood products 
industry. Most of the other measures of economic and en- 
vironmental changes are about the same as the base except 
State and local government revenues. By 2030 these are 
about $6.7 billion higher with the largest part of the in- 
crease in the Southeast, where most of the expansion in the 
pulp industry takes place. 
High Imports of Timber Products 
As with exports, there is a potential to increase greatly 
the imports of most timber products, specifically hardwood 
lumber and logs, plywood, and pulpwood, including the 
pulpwood equivalent of pulp, paper, and board. The world 
still has huge areas of tropical hardwood forests. Although 
concern is growing about the depletion of these forests and 
the capability of the countries with these resources to man- 
age them in ways that sustain productivity, these forests are 
expected to supply increasing amounts of hardwood timber 
and products to world markets for several decades. 
Moreover, U.S. imports of hardwood lumber and logs and 
hardwood plywood—in terms of cubic volume of 
roundwood— are small. Doubling current imports would not 
increase world demands by very much. 
There is an even greater potential for imports of pulp- 
wood, including woodpulp and paper. Large areas in 
tropical and subtropical regions are suitable and available 
for forest plantations. Very high rates of net annual growth 
per acre are being achieved in these regions with species, 
such as pine and eucalyptus, that are desirable for pulping. 
So far the area in plantations in these regions is small 
in proportion to that needed to supply much of the world’s 
pulp and paper markets. There are also present and poten- 
tial problems such as the maintenance of site productivity 
mortality losses from insects and disease, the lack of trans- 
portation systems, and growing demands within the tropi- 
cal and subtropical regions that may limit or constrain the 
supplies of wood from plantations. Nonetheless, the poten- 
