Where in the World is Our Wood Going?
Whether it’s the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) or the discussion of proposed tariffs, international trade of US forest products remains a popular topic in today’s news. One of the leading resources for international trade statistics and data analysis is the subscription-based service WISERTrade™. According to their website, WISERTrade™ “is a reliable supplier of accurate and comprehensive data on international trade flows”.
I was a frequent user of WISERTrade™ data during my career as an International Marketing Specialist – Forest Products at the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS). Since I am currently a North Carolina legal resident and taxpayer in good standing, I was able to enlist the help of my former NCDA&CS colleagues to run a custom query of the WISERTrade™ database to provide current forest products trade statistics. So, how important are our international markets for all forest products? And who are the US’ most active trade partners for these goods? Let’s take a closer look.
Before we discuss the data, it is important to clarify some common trade terminology. Harmonized System Codes, or more commonly HS Codes, is a universal system for classifying international shipments, freight, or cargo. Two-digit codes are used for major commodity classification, while six or eight-digit codes can be used to specify further value-added products or goods. For example, HS Code 44 is “Wood and Articles of Wood,” 4403 is “Wood in the Rough or Roughly Squared,” and 44039990 is “Southern Yellow Pine Logs (Not Sawn).” For our purposes, we are going to classify “forest products” as a combination of three 2-digit HS Codes: HS 44 – “Wood / Articles of Wood,” HS 47 – “Pulp of Wood or Other Cellulosic Material,” and HS 48 – “Paper and Paperboard.” Furthermore, all volumes are reported in US tons (short tons) and values are reported in US dollars.
In 2024, the US exported 22.54 million tons (vessel weight), or $9.56 billion, of HS Code 44 products to 168 partner countries. The total 2024 reported volume was a 9.95% decrease from a high of 25.03 million tons in 2018. The top five export trade partners in 2024 were Canada, the United Kingdom, China, Mexico, and Japan (Figure 1).
For HS 47 products, US exports in 2024 totaled $8.52 billion, or 16.69 million tons shipped to 127 partner nations. Shipments were down 38.25% from a 2014 high of 27.02 million tons. China, Mexico, Canada, and Japan again appeared on the list of top 5 export trade partners (Figure 2).
In 2024, Canada and Mexico were the US’ largest trade partners for HS Code 48 products by a considerable margin. In fact, Figure 3 shows these two nations accounted for two-thirds of the $15.48 billion paper and paperboard products exported to the world last year (190 nations were trade partners in 2024). Total 2024 export value was down 8.67% from a 2022 high of $16.91 billion exported to international markets.
And for those who might be curious – Mali was the US’ 168th-ranked trade partner for importing $2,695 of wood/articles of wood in 2024, Kiribati ranked 127th for importing $2,650 of US-produced wood pulp in 2024, and the Pitcairn Islands registered as the 190th-ranked trade partner for purchasing $2,564 of US paper and paperboard products in 2024.
The US exported over $33.5 billion of combined forest products to global consumers in 2024. It remains to be seen whether we will surpass pre-COVID-19 and pre-2018 tariff levels for wood and wood pulp shipments; however, one thing is abundantly clear – the United States is the preeminent world leader in helping to meet global demand for forest products. So, it is easy to understand why we emphasize the importance of continuing to actively participate in EUDR negotiations and carefully monitor and evaluate the potential impacts of proposed retaliatory tariffs on US exports.
