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July 10, 2009

Cost an Obstacle to Wider Use of Green Certification Systems

SFPA and Random Lengths each recently conducted surveys to assess the use of forest certification programs in the wood products industry. SFPA surveyed Southern Pine producers who are members of the Southern Pine Council, and Random Lengths surveyed the broader industry, including producers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers. SFPA discovered that approximately 61% of its respondents do not use a certification system, while Random Lengths reported almost 56% of its respondents don’t engage in a certification program. SFPA also reported approximately 46% of Southern Pine producers do not plan to seek certification any time soon. One impediment is cost. Random Lengths reported the average cost of obtaining and maintaining certification is $19,898 annually with five respondents noting six-figure costs. 

Although many companies are not embracing certification programs, some are hearing a lot about it and are accommodating their customers. SFPA reported approximately 60% of producers have regular requests for certified products. Random Lengths respondents reported that seeking certification depends heavily on “regional market variances, whether the customer base is residential or commercial, and whether a seller seeks a share of government projects that require green certification.” 

Despite the number of companies not currently using an official certification system, about 89% of the SFPA survey respondents do feel it is important to market Southern Pine lumber as a “green” product. For more information, contact Russell Richardson, SFPA’s director of industrial markets, at 504/443-4464, ext. 239, or rrichardson@sfpa.org.   

Traffic to SPC Sites Reflects Slower Construction Market

Consistent with a still-struggling construction market, traffic was down last quarter on two Web sites maintained by the Southern Pine Council – www.southernpine.com and www.RaisedFloorLiving.com.

Statistics show a 9.6% drop in unique visitors to www.southernpine.com during the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. The site attracted 81,691 unique visitors in the second quarter of 2009 compared to 90,371 unique visitors in second quarter 2008. Those visitors viewed a total of 260,608 pages, down 18.8% from the 320,995 pages viewed last year. However, both unique visitors and pages viewed were up considerably when compared to first quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, www.RaisedFloorLiving.com logged 42,597 unique visitors during the second quarter, a 13.4% decrease from the 49,164 unique visits recorded in 2008. Page views were down 40% with 114,136 pages viewed during the second quarter compared to 187,070 pages viewed during the same period last year. The drop can be largely attributed to a change in the timing of SPC’s Raised Floor Living television advertising campaign. The campaign ran from mid-May through mid-July last year, boosting traffic to the site during second quarter 2008. This year’s campaign will run in the fall.

The sites offer builders, designers and consumers everything from free downloadable technical guides to answers to frequently asked questions. For more information, contact SFPA Communications Manager Georgiann Gullett at 504/443-4464, ext. 216, or ggullett@sfpa.org.   

Southern Pine a Natural Fit in Taiwan

Reinforcing what has been a traditionally strong market for Southern Pine and providing new information about ways to use the product were the focus of a recent trip to Taiwan by Ned DeJarnette, SFPA’s director of international markets. Xu Fang, who represents American Softwoods in China, joined Ned in the effort. While there, Ned and Xu were also among presenters at seminars sponsored by the Southern Pine Council and the U.S.D.A. Foreign Agriculture Service’s Agricultural Trade Office in Taipei. More than 270 people attended the sessions in Taipei with about 50 people participating in sessions offered in the more rural area of Hualien.

Though Taiwan has been a good market for U.S. pressure-treated Southern Pine in the past, the demand has decreased over the past two years, Ned said. “We wanted to reinforce the advantages of U.S. pressure-treated Southern Pine and the specific ways it can be used in Taiwan,” he explained. “We also wanted to find out why they were buying less U.S. pressure-treated wood than in the past. We learned that U.S. pressure-treated wood is a better product, but treating it locally is less expensive.”

Because the Taiwan market is increasingly conscious about green-building issues, Ned and Xu also explained the availability of newer treatments designed to help protect the environment.  A third objective was to let the Taiwanese know about the variety of ways they can use high-grade Southern Pine in interior applications.

For more information, contact Ned at 504/443-4464, ext. 233, or by e-mail at edjarnette@sfpa.org.

SFPA Member Company Participating in Solar-Powered Home Project

An SFPA member company is among three forest product companies donating wood products to help build an advanced solar-powered house for an international competition. Called the “North House,” the 800-square-foot prototype home will use materials and passive solar construction that absorb heat during the day and release it at night, thereby enabling the house to produce more energy than it consumes.

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd., an Active member of SFPA, along with AbitibiBowater and International Forest Products Ltd. will donate lumber, plywood, engineered wood products and decking for the project. The products come from well-managed forests and are certified through the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® program. “We are interested in performance and sustainability, so wood is a perfect choice for North House – it is a natural, renewable product that delivers the strength and flexibility we need,” said Professor Geoffrey Thun of Team North, an expert team of researchers, academics, students, government and industry professionals from across Canada who are designing and building the house.

North House will appear this fall at the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon – a biennial international competition where university teams from around the world compete to build 100% solar-powered homes. The event will be held in October at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and is expected to draw more than 200,000 visitors.

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