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 Posté le: Lun Sep 30, 2013 11:25 pm Sujet du message: Despite market volatility |
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{Despite market volatility, B.C. lumber still big in Japan}
The Donguri Ann Public Library in Natori, Japan, was funded in part by Canadian forest companies and government as part of tsunami reconstruction efforts. It showcases B.C. wood products|Council of Forest IndustriesBy Jen St. DenisTue Mar 12, 2013 12:01am PSTOne of B.C.'s most stable and lucrative lumber export markets is gathering steam again. Housing starts in Japan this year edged closer to 2008 levels, thanks in part to a post-tsunami building boom."It's always been a strong market," Shawn Lawlor, Japan director for the Council of Forest Industries (COFI), told Business in Vancouver from his Tokyo office. "China and other markets have come on stream in recent times, and Japan's sort of been under the radar."It's a far cry from what happened after another major natural disaster: the Kobe earthquake in 1995. "For the coastal forest industry, the Kobe earthquake and the fallout was fairly disastrous," said Rick Jeffery, president and CEO of the Coast Forest Products Association (CFPA).Prior to the Kobe quake, Japan was the biggest market for B.C. coastal hemlock. Jeffery said B.C. companies lost "an incredible amount" of market share to European engineered wood products, favoured because structures made from them hold up better in an earthquake.The industry spent the next five years playing catch-up. It worked to develop new products to try to compete with the Europeans, lobbied the Japanese government and conducted tests to show hemlock structures could withstand an earthquake.B.C.'s wood exports were also hit hard by the recession Japan experienced through the late 1990s and the collapse of its high-flying real-estate bubble.Home prices finally began to stabilize in 2005. In 2008,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler sale[/url], the country saw 1.1 million housing starts (compared with the mid-1990s building peak of 1.5 million starts). But in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, that number plunged to 788,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler down jackets[/url],[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler outlet[/url],000. Housing starts have since increased by about 6% year over year.Despite its ups and downs, the market is worth fighting for because Japanese buyers purchase only the best quality wood."This is the premium type of product that is produced by mills in the Interior of B.C.," said Lawlor. "Visually, it's basically perfect, and it commands a very high price."Lawlor expects the current construction activity to last for the next three to five years. Given Japan's aging population, he doesn't expect to see another boom in single-family housing after that.To ensure B.C. wood products stay competitive in the long term, organizations like COFI and CFPA are lobbying for wood construction in multi-family buildings and non-residential buildings like shopping malls, hospitals and schools. The initiative has been bolstered by Japanese laws, which oblige businesses to reduce their carbon footprint."In terms of insulation performance,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler down jackets[/url], the wood structures have outperformed the steel," said Lawlor. "We've had a couple of major retail chains that have adopted the use of [wood construction]."Shaking up the world of wood constructionThe two largest shake tables in the world are in Japan, a country that has more than 100 earthquakes a year. Full-size buildings can be tested on the tables.In 2008,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler sale[/url], a three-storey wooden post-and-beam house, partly made of B.C. hemlock, was tested on the shake table in Tsukuba, Japan. The house was shaken at twice the intensity of the Kobe quake and "performed marvellously," said Rick Jeffery, president and CEO of the Coast Forest Products Association."One of our marketing angles in Japan around hemlock is that it's strong and it holds nails, so when a building shakes in an earthquake,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler outlet[/url], the wood will bend but it won't break."In 2009, a six-storey wood condo building was tested at Mika,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]discount moncler jackets[/url], Japan. That building, made of engineered wood products, also performed well.Tags: Japan,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler on sale[/url], Coast Forest Products Association, Council of Forest Industries, exports, prices,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler on sale[/url], recession, earthquake, Japanese government,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]discount moncler jackets[/url], retail
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