The importance of overseas lumber supply has increased in recent years as the supply from Canada has dwindled. Despite record-high lumber prices in the US in 2020, Canadian lumber shipments to its southern neighbor have fallen for the fourth consecutive year. A reduction in the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) in the province of British Columbia has reduced production volumes in that region by over a third in just five years.
The United States’ favorable market conditions have historically attracted lumber from overseas, with the all-time high being close to seven million cubic meters in 2005. Europe has been the dominant provider of lumber from outside North America for much of the past two decades, a position that remained true during 2020.