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June 19, 2009

Information, Lively Discussions Highlight 2009 Midyear Meeting

SFPA’s Midyear Meeting, especially the breakfast roundtable discussions tried for the first time this year, appeared to have been a hit with attendees last week in New Orleans. Members of SFPA and the Southern Pine Council heard updates on several SPC programs and got a better understanding of how green building certification programs impact the lumber industry.

Participants learned the latest results and plans for SPC’s Raised Floor Living program and a Real Outdoor Living campaign recently launched through the Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association’s Southern Pine Awareness Network. Ned DeJarnette, SFPA’s director of international markets, briefed members on the American Forest & Paper Association’s decision to phase out its role in the U.S. lumber industry’s international marketing efforts, a move that prompts adjustments in the way SFPA and other trade groups conduct their international efforts. Ward Hubbell, president of the Green Building Initiative, updated attendees on green building certification programs and why it’s important for the lumber industry to pay attention.

Breakfast roundtables held on the second day of the meeting proved to be an effective way for members to share ideas and bring up issues they felt SPC should research or address. Participants packed a room set up with tables for each of SPC’s four marketing committees – building systems, international, special products and treated systems.

Despite a down economy, attendance slightly surpassed last year’s Midyear event. “I’d say we had a very informative meeting,” said SFPA President Digges Morgan. “The members of SFPA and SPC enjoyed the business meetings and social functions, and New Orleans was a wonderful host city.”

Click here to see photos from this year’s meeting. PDF copies of the meeting presentations will be available next week in the members-only sections of SFPA’s Web site.

EXPO Deemed a Success

As expected, the economy put a damper on EXPO attendance last week, but that didn’t stop the show from being a success for many of its exhibitors. Some of that success can be chalked up to a strong show of support by the member companies of SFPA and the Southern Pine Council. “The manufacturing companies that make up SFPA and the Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association are a major customer base for our exhibitors, so they were glad to have an opportunity to sit down and talk with them,” said EXPO Director Eric Gee. Several exhibitors reported potential sales are on the horizon thanks to EXPO.

Nearly 1,200 people, including exhibitors, attended the show held June 11-13 in the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. The EXPO Advisory Committee and SFPA’s Board of Directors will meet later this year to start planning EXPO 2011.

Click here to see more photos form EXPO 2009.

Conference Draws Crowd

More than 100 people attended the 2009 Expo University Conference Program held last week in conjunction with EXPO.  The conference offered three concurrent tracks on the mornings of June 11 and 12. The most popular track focused on wood bioenergy, attracting a “standing room only” crowd both days, reports SFPA Director of Industrial Markets Russell Richardson, who assisted with the conference. “Everyone was very interested to hear what the speakers had to say about emerging bioenergy markets,” Russell said. “It seems everyone wants to know how this market is going to affect our wood fiber resource markets.”  

Two other tracks – “Sawmill Efficiencies” and “Cutting Tools” – drew attendees who were concentrating heavily on improving mill performance, especially during today’s trying economic times. “All of the sessions proved to be beneficial for those who attended,” Russell said. 

The conference was coordinated by Hatton-Brown Publishers Inc., publishers of Southern Lumberman, Timber Processing and other forest products industry publications.

Sawmill Safety Award Winners Announced

Nine member mills were recognized at SFPA’s Midyear Meeting last week for achieving outstanding safety records during 2008. Safety performance is judged by how mills’ safety records stack up against mills with comparable lumber output throughout the year.  Division I mills produce 50 million board feet or less; Division II mills produce 51 to 150 million board feet; and Division III mills turn out 150 million or more board feet. Mills with the lowest incident rates in each division receive the award. All of the mills honored this year reported zero incidents during 2008.

Recipients of the 2008 Sawmill Safety Award are:

SFPA congratulates all of the recipients for their achievement.

Housing Permits, Starts Up

The U.S. residential construction picture showed improvement in May as the economy continues its slow, bumpy climb toward recovery. Building permits for privately-owned housing units in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 518,000, a 4% increase over the revised April rate of 498,000, and 47% below the May 2008 estimate of 978,000. Single-family permits were at a rate of 408,000, 7.9% above the revised April figure of 378,000.

The rise in housing starts was a bit more dramatic. Starts of privately-owned housing units in May were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 532,000, a 17.2% increase over the revised April estimate of 454,000 and 45.2% below the May 2008 rate of 971,000. Single-family housing starts were at a rate of 401,000 for a 7.5% increase over the revised April figure of 373,000.

The heaviest permitting activity was in the South where 266,000 housing units were authorized, including 208,000 single-family units. Almost half the nation’s starts also occurred in the South in May with 257,000 units started, 208,000 of which were single-family units. Click here to see the U.S. Census Bureau news release issued Tuesday with a breakdown of the numbers by region.

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