DHA eNews - U.S., China Sign Phase One Trade Agreement
The 96-page agreement signed on January 15 includes a commitment by China to purchase $200 billion more of U.S. goods - including hardwood lumber - and services, and an agreement to make new trade commitments. In return, the U.S. has agreed to cut tariffs in half, to 7.5%, on $120 billion of Chinese goods.
Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead
By an 89 to 10 vote, the U.S. Senate approved the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on January 16. The bill now goes to President Trump for his signature before going into effect.
Vietnam's Minister of Agriculture reported that the country's forest products exports reached $11.3 billion in 2019, an increase of 18% from 2018. Vietnam's forest industry has set a new target: to achieve exports of $20 billion by 2025.
Due to a shortage of workers and high wages in Vietnam, some U.S. furniture makers are scouting factories in Cambodia and Bangladesh. The leadership of one such company, Haverty Furniture, believes that wood furniture manufacturing "is not coming back to the United States." Asian manufacturers source much of the wood they use from the U.S. Appalachian region.
All-white kitchens are declining in popularity as colors such as blue are on the rise. Book-matched wood panels are popular and experts recommend using low-VOC finishes whenever possible. On trend are wood Shaker-style cabinets, rich browns, and wood veneers that are streamlined, rift cut, or wire-brushed to add warmth to the room. Open kitchens that flow into other rooms continue to be in demand.
Source: Steamboat Pilot
Timber Products has installed a state-of-the-art Meinan lathe at its Yreka, CA facility. The lathe will improve veneer and plywood production and is a part of the company's ongoing strategy to modernize its plywood business.
Committed industry partners - and OSU friends - provide financial support to undergraduates studying renewable materials at Oregon State University. Experts from Columbia Forest Products, Murphy Company, Roseburg Forest Products, and others were on hand to work with students.
Large-scale wildfires, like the fires in California, Australia, and Eastern Europe, are a global problem. A new study shows that the most important factor in recent wildfires in Siberia, initially believed to have been caused by dry wind, was underbrush.
In the agency's year-end report, U.S. Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen highlights increased visitor access and the highest timber sales in 21 years.
Timber theft is common in much of rural Romania, as illegal logging is one of the main sources of income. Since 2014, six forest rangers have been killed - two in the past 3 months - and 184 cases of violence against rangers have been recorded.
Forest rangers in Indonesia's Aceh province will now be armed with guns in the battle against illegal logging. The jungle region loses about 32,000 hectares (79,000 acres) of its more than 2 million hectares of forest annually due to deforestation, including illegal logging.
Since the widely publicized Lumber Liquidators case, CARB has levied fines against 15 companies, mostly importers, for violations of its regulations. While EPA and CARB formaldehyde emission limits are the same, other compliance provisions differ.
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation has updated its regulations. The lacquer, sanding sealer, and varnish categories, which included most floor finishes, will now be subject to a lower VOC limit.
Designed with a reduced environmental footprint, the new multilevel parking garage in Aarhus, Denmark will be built from cross-laminated timber.
Wood products that are nearly as strong as steel are being used in more high-rises, locking up carbon. This trend depends on something that is disappearing: a steady climate and forests that remain where they've been.