At a total of 36.790m m³, the North American output of sawn softwood in the fourth quarter turned out to be 3.9 % lower than a year earlier. Whereas the output in the USA fell only slightly by 0.4 % at 19.416m m³, the figures from the Western Wood Products Association (WWPA) show that the volume produced by Canada decreased comparatively sharply by 8.1 % to 15.083m m³.
The main reasons for the reduction in output in Canada were the production cuts and stoppages imposed on various sawmills in British Columbia that were triggered by log-supply and sales problems as well as the massive reduction in prices on the US sawn softwood market. The output by this particular Canadian province was consequently 12.7 % lower than a year earlier at 6.444m m³. In the “East of Rockies” region, too, the produced volume of sawnwood was 4.4 % less than in the same period of the year before at 8.639m m³.
