Log Exports To China Could Boost Southern Timber Markets

While West Coast timber prices have recovered nicely, the South continues to wallow in an oversupply of sawtimber and low stumpage (standing timber) prices. But pine log exports to the Far East from Southern ports may offer new opportunities for forest landowners.

Marshall Thomas, F&W President, writes in his company’s summer newsletter that Southern exports to China nearly doubled in 2017 from the previous three years.

“We will have to wait to see if this trend continues, but it sure is heartening to see that we exported pine logs worth almost $350 million last year,” Thomas said. “That’s probably not enough to affect prices, but it is a step in the right direction.”

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