Oregonian Op Ed: Oregon and Washington log exports cost thousands of jobs

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/08/oregon_and_washington_log_expo.html

Oregon and Washington log exports cost thousands of jobs

Thursday, August 11, 2011
By Jerry Crane

In the year 2010, in spite of the nearly 20 percent increase in the timber harvest, direct employment in the forest products industry declined by 2,100 jobs in Oregon and 2,200 in Washington. All of the increase in the timber harvest is accounted for by huge increases of raw log exports to China.

The total timber harvest in 2010 was 2.629 billion board feet (bf) for Washington and 3.227 billion bf in Oregon. That totals 5.856 billion bf for the two states, an 18 percent increase over 2009. Most of this harvest was from private and state lands. Less than 9 percent was from national forests and BLM land.

Total log exports for the two states combined was 1.1 billion bf, or the equivalent of nearly 19 percent of the total combined harvest. The 1.1 billion board feet was an increase of 406 million bf, or 59 percent more than the previous year. (It is difficult to find separate log export numbers for the two states because many logs from Oregon are exported out of the Port of Longview, Wash.)

Log exports to the People's Republic of China increased from 70 million board feet in 2009 to 495 million feet in 2010, accounting for all of the increase in the timber harvest as well as the increase in log export volume.

The total value of the logs exported was $697 million. The value of logs exported to the Republic of China was $306 million.

China had been importing logs from Russia and Canada until those countries put high export tariffs or other restrictions on raw log exports. Having overcut its own forests, China looked to the U.S. West Coast for logs in 2009, and the results are clear: China needs wood and is willing to pay for it.

In 2007 Oregon had 9.4 direct jobs per million board feet of timber harvested; 9.9 direct jobs per million board feet harvested in Washington. If half or more of those jobs were in the mills converting logs to lumber and plywood, the 1.1 billion bf of log exports represents a loss of between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs.

With log export restrictions in place, Russia and Canada are now exporting nearly 15 times more finished lumber to China than they were 10 years ago, two or three times more than just two years ago. In 2001 China was importing about 250,000 cubic meters of lumber from Russia and similar amounts from Canada and the U.S. In 2010 China imported about 3,800,000 cubic meters of lumber from Russia, 3,500,000 from Canada but just 250,000 from the U.S. We are still exporting logs!

Alexander Putin announced, with the introduction of Russia's log export tariffs, that Russia's goal is to stop the export of logs completely in favor of domestic manufacturing. We should be so enlightened. If citizens, unemployed workers and that part of the forest products industry that depends on timber sales would act to raise public awareness and push our elected leaders hard enough, there is a chance that we could follow the Russian and Canadian examples. We should not just sit and watch a few exporting companies load logs and jobs for Asia.

The pressure to increase timber harvests on industrial and other private land is much greater than before China entered the market so vigorously. The primary results will be: rapid depletion of the exportable timber on industrial and private lands, much higher prices for all timber, including that needed by domestic producers, and steadily increasing pressure on Congress to reopen the national forests for extensive logging.


Jerry Crane is a retired consultant to the forest products industry on issues of log buying and production practices, transportation and information technology. He lives in Southwest Portland.

The data on the timber harvest, log exports and employment in the forest products industry for 2010 are from the USDA Resource Bulletin PNW-260, "Production, Prices, Employment and Trade in Northwest Forest Industries, 2010."

Information on Chinese imports of softwood lumber are from International Timber, RISI.