Historical price trends of nonconiferous tropical logs and sawnwood imported to the United States, Europe, and Japan

This report reviews historical price trends of nonconiferous and tropical sawlogs and tropical sawnwood imports to several major consuming regions of the world. Data on real prices for imports from Africa, Asia, and Latin America to the United States, Europe, and Japan are presented as a reference for policymakers interested in the relative price movements of tropical wood products. The discussion includes an assessment of the data with particular emphasis on indications of economic scarcity evidenced by increasing real price trends. Average real prices of tropical logs doubled in the past 20 years with the majority of the increases occurring from 1970 to 1980. Tropical sawnwood prices increased more than log prices, except for imports to the United States. As a percentage of total hardwood imports to the United States, Europe, and Japan, nonconiferous tropical wood products decreased in every case except tropical log imports to Japan.