Timber, Logs, Plywood, Wood Panels & Wood Pulp

Wood products are bought on specification and on paper. Sawn softwood is ordered by species, size, moisture and grade: kiln-dried spruce, pine and fir at 12-18% moisture, strength graded to EN 338 classes such as C16 and C24 with a stamp on each piece, or visually graded as Nordic unsorted, fifths and sixths, or as North American SPF No.2 & Better. Sawn hardwood is ordered on the NHLA clear-cutting grades (FAS, Select, No.1 Common) for American oak, ash and walnut, on EN 975-1 for European oak and beech, and dried lower for furniture and flooring. Plywood is ordered on bond class (EN 314-2, EN 636), face grade (EN 635), formaldehyde class (E1, CARB Phase 2) and core species. The 2024 export declarations put sawn wood (HS 4407) at USD 28.2 billion and 44.6 million MT across the reporters in the pull, led by Canada (23.6%), Sweden (13.7%), the USA (9.6%), Germany (9.2%) and Finland (7.3%), and plywood and laminated wood (HS 4412) at USD 13.65 billion and 14.63 million MT, led by China (38.6%), Indonesia (12.9%) and Brazil (6.1%).

CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers sawn timber and plywood between sawmills, panel mills and their export agents on one side and construction and formwork contractors, builders' merchants, joinery, furniture and cabinet plants, packaging and pallet makers and timber distributors on the other. Timber moves in strapped, marked bundles and plywood in strapped crates, loaded into 40-ft containers or, for large Nordic and North American softwood volumes, as breakbulk, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Timber is a legality-heavy commodity and the documents are conditions of shipment: FSC or PEFC chain-of-custody certificates where the buyer requires them; EU Deforestation Regulation data including harvest geolocation for EU destinations; UK Timber Regulation due diligence for Great Britain; a Lacey Act declaration for the USA; FLEGT licences on Indonesian timber products into the EU; and phytosanitary certificates and ISPM-15 packaging where required. Species listed under CITES and excluded origins are never offered, and anti-dumping duties, which apply to plywood and softwood lumber in several markets, are the buyer's check before contract. The fibre side of the trade runs on its own measures: New Zealand radiata pine logs are sold in JAS cubic metres on pruned, A, K and pulp grades, pulp chips per bone-dry metric tonne, and market pulp per air-dry tonne. The 2024 export declarations put pine logs of 15 cm or more (HS 4403.21) at 19.8 million MT, 63.0% of the value from New Zealand; bleached hardwood kraft pulp (HS 4703.29) at 32.3 million MT, 53.5% of the value from Brazil; and corrugated recovered paper (HS 4707.10) at 21.0 million MT, led by the USA. Tropical logs are offered only from origins where log export is lawful, because Indonesia, Peninsular Malaysia and Gabon among others ban it. Wood-based panels are ordered on their own standards: MDF and HDF (HS 4411.12-14) on thickness, density and formaldehyde class (E1, CARB ATCM Phase 2 and TSCA Title VI, Japan's F☆☆☆☆), particle board (HS 4410.11) on EN 312 type, raw or melamine-faced, and OSB (HS 4410.12) on EN 300 class or the North American PS 2 standard. Dissolving pulp (HS 4702), at least 92% insoluble in 18% caustic soda for kraft grades, is bought by viscose staple fibre mills on alpha-cellulose, S18 and viscosity. The 2024 export declarations put the three MDF lines at USD 7.81 billion, led by China, Germany, Thailand and Türkiye; particle board at USD 5.93 billion, led by Austria and Germany; OSB at USD 3.79 billion, 55.8% of it from Canada; and dissolving pulp at USD 6.41 billion, led by South Africa, Indonesia and Brazil, with China declaring 4.08 million MT of dissolving pulp imports.