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US Hardwoods and Market Opportunities in Easter Europe
Eva Haviarova
1, Henry Quesada
21Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
University or Company West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
2Department of Sustainable Biomaterials
Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA, 47907, USA
ABSTRACT
In the last two decades the US hardwood industry has experienced an important increase in exports to key markets in Southeast Asia, and Western Europe. Exports of log, lumber, and veneer played a major role in forest products overall sales. The increase in exports has allowed the US hardwood industry to remain competitive and continue to support much needed economic development in US hardwood regions such as the Mid-West and the Eastern hardwood region. However, with ongoing changes, new market opportunities need to be explored. There is still little information available on international hardwood markets in Eastern European emerging economies where the solid furniture manufacturing industry consume high quality of hardwood lumber. Favorable labor costs, progressive design, and an increasing environmental orientation in these countries are key factors that sustain not only the furniture industry but also the architectural woodworking industry.
The goal of this project was to identify opportunities, asses the level of interest and feasibility for exporting US hardwood lumber to selected Eastern Europe countries (Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland and Czech Republic). The main activities of the project included the identification of the hardwood lumber characteristics in the selected countries from secondary and primary research sources. Additional sources of information included available industry and government reports, interviews with industry, industry associations, and government representatives in selected countries. This study will present summary of findings.
