When Håkan Ekström researched at the forest products department at SLU in Uppsala, he met his wife who was an American guest researcher. This led to him being a guest researcher in 1990 in Seattle, USA when he did a comparative study of how sawmills in the United States and Sweden sells sawn timber in the European market, and the use of foliferous tree. Håkan stayed at the University of Washington in two additional periods of one year until 1992. Then he applied for a job at the WRI’s (WRI – Wood Resources International) office on the East Coast with the task to monitor the West Coast and Asia. Håkan was then editor of a market report ”The North American Wood Fiber Review,” which was a quarterly report.
In the following years he was employed at the FAO in Geneva for six months, and then WRI when he had consulting assignments in different parts of the world. The owner sold the company in 2003 and Hakan has run it ever since. At first, he was editor of two reports, but now he has an employee who compiles the first report that focuses on the North American market while he continued with the Wood Resources Quarterly, which is a global market report. At peak periods, he also employs consultants temporarily.
Wood Resources Quarterly shows trends in the timber market
The market report is the only one of its kind that has collected statistics over a long period of time since 1988 to show trends in the global timber market.
This quarterly report contains facts with prices for sawlogs, pulpwood and wood pellets. Håkan also makes the analysis of the wood market on a consultancy basis. He calls around and weigh up different figures to get the statistics. There are hundreds of companies he contacts each quarter and has a network of people in the forest industry which collects data through surveys and conversations. The internet is always lots of data and information gathering and analysis. Our job as consultants is to make a selection of the information that is relevant and reliable. We must always follow the latest happenings around the world that may affect the supply, demand, trade and prices of forest products. It is our narrow niche that few other companies are working with today. What is difficult for many people to do is the compilation and analysis of all the data which will then be requested. Expertise is of great value. It’s a narrow niche, but you can live on it, says Håkan Ekström.
Wood pellets was not affected by the recession
The crisis of 2008 turned the whole financial market upside down and was very difficult to foresee. The only thing that wasn’t affected by the recession was the market for wood pellets which continued to develop in a positive direction. It has gone up for hygiene paper and cardboard used by e-commerce. Businesses on the U.S. west coast exports to China and Japan, which is relatively good. For Southern states and eastern Canada, it is worse while it goes well for western Canada that export to China. We are now beginning to see a turnaround in North America, with increased demand for lumber in the construction industry. The future looks brighter for sawmills that sell to the U.S..
In the case of bioenergy, Europe is in the lead. Dirty chips burn and clean chips goes to pulpwood. In the U.S., natural gas is inexpensive and bio-energy is not competitive at the moment. South Korea, however, is likely to become a major importer of alternative fuels such as pellets. Japan closes probably most of their nuclear power and can also become a major importer of biomass in various forms.
– My prediction is that there will be further diversified use of wood. Paper machines will be modified to produce products other than what has been done historically. Research has come a long way and new products will be extracted from the tree in the future. Other uses of the wood, for example, fabrics such as rayont has become more popular and is a good option because cotton prices are likely to increase in the future. Increasingly unique clones and hybrids of tree species will increase in tropical countries for specific end uses. This is usually easier and more economical in countries with fast-growing trees, says Håkan Ekström.
Will energy crops replace forest seedlings?
A global issue is what to grow and how you will use it – for food, fuel, forest products?
– I do not think that energy crops will replace forest seedlings, but however it is likely to become a more sophisticated selection of the tree seedlings planted with regard to the end use of the felled tree. Especially in tropical countries. It is more profitable to grow energy crops and more land is used for such production than growing cereals or seedlings. This and other uses of wood will affect the entire forest industry globally in the future, says Håkan Ekström.
More information
Want to subscribe to Wood Resources Quarterly? Then go to the website of WRI and register. Link to WRI, Wood Resources International
/ Ms Gunilla Häggström
Manager Digital Media
Forest Sweden
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Name: Håkan Ekström Role: President and owner of Wood Resources International, WRI From: Härnösand, in the northern part of Sweden Family: Married, met his wife when she guest researcher in Sweden. Three biological children, two foster children from Honduras and Congo. Two go to school and the rest are empty nesters Ubildning: SLU Uppsala, timber teaching institution. Location: Woodinville, outside of Seattle, USA |