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As we celebrated the end of the year 2019, the world was ready for a fresh, new, and exciting decade of the 20’s. No one anticipated how the year would change our lives. For Pacific Northwest log exporters, the roller coaster ride would include both peaks and troughs, as they navigated through a litany of different market conditions.
The first quarter of 2020 was a continuation of previous struggles. Chinese tariffs and resulting retaliatory tariffs were overpricing PNW logs as compared to other global competitors such as New Zealand and Europe. PNW ports contracted to Longview, Olympia, and occasionally Coos Bay, were exporting product with all the cargo going to Japan. As a result, longtime exporters stepped out of the area of business as Weyerhaeuser and China National Forest Products Group Company (CFPC) were left as the only competitors on a shrinking stage.
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