Billion cubic feet 
Increased exports 
1990 2000 
2010 2020 2030 
Figure 4.8—Projections of roundwood pulpwood consumption in the South, with and without increased exports of timber 
products 
tial is there to double U.S. imports of pulpwood, includ- 
ing pulp and paper, and this prospect is of some concern to 
the pulp industry and forest owners in the South. 
In contrast to a doubling of exports, a doubling of im- 
ports reduces demands on domestic resources. Both soft- 
wood and hardwood timber harvests (supplies) drop below 
the base projections in most timber-producing sections. On 
the other hand, inventories rise and are above the base num- 
bers in most sections and regions. The largest increase is 
in the South—softwood timber inventories in 2030 are some 
16 percent above the base. 
The lower harvests and higher inventories largely reflect 
changes in the consumption of pulpwood roundwood in the 
South. By 2030, softwood roundwood consumption is down 
by nearly 700 million cubic feet and that of hardwoods, by 
close to 600 million. As a result there are also substantially 
lower softwood pulpwood stumpage prices. In fact, they 
stay below or close to the 1984 levels in both southern re- 
214 
gions until near the end of the projection period. Prices 
for softwood and hardwood sawtimber stumpage are also be- 
low the base numbers, but the difference is much smaller 
than for pulpwood. 
In response to lower sawtimber stumpage prices, and 
somewhat lower lumber prices, there is some increase in 
softwood lumber production in the South. In most other 
lumber-producing sections, there is little change from the 
base. Softwood plywood production is also above the base 
in the South but about the same in the other producing 
regions. Softwood lumber imports are reduced below the 
base projections. 
Employment in the lumber and wood products industry 
is above the base levels, a response to the higher lumber 
production. But this increase is more than offset by de- 
clines in the pulp and paper industry, where employment is 
19 percent below the base projections in 2030 because of 
the increased imports of pulp and paper (fig. 4.9). Wages 
