Plywood Industry To Focus On Marketing

The U.S. and Canadian engineered-wood products industry is increasing production capacity, so it wants to make sure there’s a growing demand for items such as plywood and oriented-strand board.

By 1997, plants in the two countries will be making 9 billion square feet more structural panels than the 32 billion square feet produced this year, according to APA-The Engineered Wood Association.

“It’s a simple proposition: The industry needs to expand some demand for its products or face some painful times ahead,” said David Rogoway, president of the Tacomabased trade association.

To boost demand for the products, the association has developed a $13 million, five-year marketing plan that includes advertising, one-on-one field contacts and technical demonstrations, spokesman Jack Merry said Friday.

International markets in Europe, Japan and Mexico will receive special attention.

Structural wood panels and engineered lumber products have a variety of industrial and construction uses.

Merry said these are some of the industry production goals for the year 2000, compared with 1994:

I-joists, 665 million square feet is the target, compared with 305 million square feet.

Mobile home flooring, walls and roofs, 1.61 billion square feet, from 1.27 billion square feet.

Commercial roofs in the eastern half of the United States, 540 million square feet, from 215 million square feet.

Pallets, 1 billion square feet, from 400 million square feet.

Containers and bins, 600 million square feet, from 150 million square feet.

The growth opportunities are there, said George Carter of George Carter and Affiliates in Hillsdale, N.J., a market research firm specializing in the wood products industry.

Engineered lumber products, such as the I-joists, are used to hold up floors and sometimes in place of wall studs.

The engineered lumber market is somewhat limited now, but Carter believes there are major benefits from such products.

“First, because it’s remanufactured, any of the potential negatives that creep into that which Mother Nature creates are taken out, such as warping and twisting,” he said.

There are also fewer trees to produce big or long pieces of lumber. Engineered lumber can be made to just about any length that can be transported, and remain strong, Carter said.

And, “because they are remanufactured they can use all of the raw material the tree has to offer,” which is important for cost and environmental reasons, he said.

As government-owned timber supplies decline, “producers have to find new ways to make more with less,” Rogoway said.

Although engineered-wood products sometimes cost more at the outset, the industry contends that they last long enough to be cost effective.