Timber Operations Industry Profile

Companies in this industry own timberlands and grow and harvest timber on production cycles of 10 years or more, primarily for use as lumber. Major companies include US-based PotlatchDeltic, Rayonier, and Weyerhaeuser, as well as Canfor, Resolute Forest Products, and West Fraser (Canada), Stora Enso (Finland), and Svenska Cellulosa (Sweden).

Top timber-producing countries include Brazil, Canada, China, India, Russia, and the US. Trade in cut timber, though significant, is limited because of the cost of transporting such a bulky product relative to the product's value. Trade in value-added wood products such as lumber and plywood is substantial.

The US timber operations industry includes about 8,800 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of about $13 billion.

Some large companies have vertically integrated operations that may combine land ownership, land management, logging, sawmills, and manufacturing of wood or paper products. Companies that grow Christmas trees and other trees (woody crops) on production cycles of less than 10 years, primarily for use by the paper and pulp industries or as raw materials for engineered wood products, are not included in the industry.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand for timber used to make lumber is driven primarily by residential construction activity. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations. Large logging companies can have a cost advantage over smaller ones through the use of more efficient (and more expensive) machinery, but logging ...