DHA® eNews - Cabinet Firm Closes As Chinese Imports Surge
A Missouri custom cabinet manufacturer is one of the latest casualties of the influx of ready-to-assemble cabinets from China. Woodpro Cabinetry abruptly closed in January after 42 years in business, laying off 60 people. Imports of Chinese RTA cabinets into the U.S. have grown steadily over the last eight years, from $300 million in 2010 to an estimated $1.24 billion in 2018.
China's investments in fixed assets in the wood products industry rose 17% in 2018. Profits dipped 1.5% but exports grew by 3.8%. Vietnam's wood products exports grew too, up 15.9% to $9.3 billion. 95% of those exports were shipped to the U.S.
Designers are calling for a renaissance in the use of plywood - renewable, sustainable, and beautiful as used in cars, airplanes, mass transit, and more. The latest news in high-tech: more designs that incorporate carbon-friendly wood, supporting and advancing the wood products industry and sustainable forestry.
According to a recent survey, more than half of kitchen renovations are for "wide open spaces:" to open the kitchen to nearby rooms. The popularity of engineered materials - including engineered wood flooring - continues to grow.
White, natural wood, and gray are the top three colors homeowners choose for kitchen cabinets. 57% of the 1,300 homeowners who participated in a Houzz survey favor Shaker-style cabinet doors.
Designers report that colors from nature prevail, with a shift toward darker tones in wood flooring and wider planks.
Southern Veneer has purchased the Boise Cascade hardwood plywood plant in Moncure, NC. The plant primarily supplies hardwood plywood to the furniture industry and employs about 150 people.
Brian Carson, former president of Mohawk Industries' North American flooring division, has been appointed president and CEO of AHF Products in Lancaster, PA, the company that was created after the sale of Armstrong Flooring's wood floors business.
Source: AHF Products
The Rockshield Engineered Wood Products plywood overlay mill in Cochrane, Ontario has been awarded TSCA Title VI certification for formaldehyde emissions by HPVA Laboratories®.
The HPVA Laboratories® team continues to improve its fire testing capabilities, having recently increased the precision of flame spread tracking on the Steiner tunnel, which measures surface burning characteristics of building materials.
The American Chemistry Council may form a TSCA group on formaldehyde, as it is considered a "prime candidate" to be included by EPA in a risk evaluation of 20 high-priority chemicals.
OSHA released its final electronic recordkeeping rule with the provision that companies with more than 250 employees do not have to file details about workplace injuries or illnesses electronically, as this would compromise employee and employer privacy. Details of injuries and illnesses still must be provided to OSHA. In response, the Public Citizen Health Research Group sued OSHA.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments soon in the Kisor v. Wilkie case which addresses whether courts should defer to an agency's interpretation of its own regulations. The case has widespread implications for how courts handle challenges to agency regulations. A decision is expected in June.
ISO has announced a new voluntary standard for the chain of custody of wood and wood-based products. The standard will help track wood from its original source through finished products.
A new analysis by Global Witness shows that illegal logging in Peru is still widespread and systemic, contributing to the degradation of the Amazon. This degradation is, in part, due to sawmills colluding with regional governments to create false documents to make illegal timber appear legal.
Between 2005 and 2015, U.S. forests grew nearly 1.3 million acres a year, the equivalent of 2,740 football fields per day. There are 20% more trees in the U.S. today than there were on the first Earth Day celebration in 1970. China is determined to expand its forests as well, planting nearly 84 million acres of forests since 2012, bringing national forest coverage to more than 21%.
Sales rose to a seasonally adjusted rate of 657,000 units in November, helped by an increase in sales of affordable homes.
Total student loan debt has reached $1.6 trillion. The cost for millennials is home ownership. Student loan debt accounts for a full two points of the 9% drop in millennials' homeownership rate.