Trends in Markets for Forest-Based Products and Consequences for Selected Countries

Olena Maksymets¹, Lars Lönnstedt^2*

¹Department of International Economic Activity Management, National Forestry University of Ukraine, Lviv, Ukraine.
²Department of Forest Products, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

DOI: 10.4236/ojf.2015.57062                

Abstract

The forest sectors in many regions and countries are facing a need to change their structure, due to the development of new markets, emergence of new competitors, and shifts in production and consumption patterns for forest products. This article focuses on recent changes in the trade in these products, on imports and exports of four countries (USA, Sweden, Ukraine and, to a lesser extent, China) during the period from 1995 to 2011. For this purpose we use explanatory data analysis, time series analysis, benchmarking, meta-synthesis and content analysis of scientific and business publications concerning national and global trends in forest product industries. Data sources are various organizations’ databases of international trade in forest-based products in both monetary and physical terms (cubic meters and tons). The results show that the US and Swedish forest sectors are adversely affected by downturns in both their domestic and foreign markets during the study period, while the Ukrainian sector maintains exports of low value-added products at roughly constant levels (except that particle-board exports increase). China maintains production quantities of low value-added forest-based products, but also substantially increases exports of high-value added products. The results may facilitate efforts to forecast future trends and provide useful information and methodological approaches for future studies of interest to industry representatives, policy-makers and researchers.

Keywords

New Markets, Forest-Based Products, Competition, International Trade in Forest Products, Forest Products Companies

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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