The uses of industrial softwood in Britain.

Abstract

Industrial softwood is defined for the purposes of this paper as coniferous sawnwood. Britain obtains sawnwood, either by imports or by its own coniferous resource. Imports predominate, and although the level of imports has fallen in recent years from an average of some 8.5 million m3 in the early 1970's to some 6.5 million m3 since the economic recession following the rise in oil price in 1973/74, nevertheless the home resource contributes less than 8 percent of the demand. At the same time the level of supply of British conifers is expected to rise dramatically within the next twenty five years, reaching double the present level within the next fifteen years. The effective utilisation of this resource presents a challenge to British sawmillers, to meet competition from imports and to maintain the advantage given by sawmill sized logs, under terms of increasing competition from other wood using industries, notably pulping...