Timber Products Supply and Demand

Abstract

This chapter describes historical, current, and projected timber inventories and timber product outputs from southern forests. It also attempts to place these quantities in national and international perspectives. Timber is the most valuable commercial commodity taken from most forests, and its removal strongly influences the character of those forests. Timber is removed to convert land to other uses, and it is removed in regular harvest activities of managed forests.These two processes do not occur randomly on the landscape. Rather, they occur in patterns that are predictable, related to the locations of development, timber processing capacities, and the species in demand for timber products. Because removals are a function of societal demands,the products made from timber, and the technologies used to remove andprocess timber, the nature of forests and projected future of those forests can be traced out by relating economic and demographic trends to the timber products sector. The economic and demographic relationships to the timber sector can be identified through a description of historical patterns of timber production and technologies. Hence, such a description provides substantial information for predicting the future of southern forests.

Citation

Prestemon,Jeffrey P.; Abt, Robert C. 2002. Timber products supply and demand. In: Wear, D.N.; Greis, J.G., eds. The Southern Forest Resource Assessment. General Technical Report GTR-SRS-53. Asheville, North Carolina: USDA-Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 299-325.