In April 2022, the U.S. plywood imports expanded 13% year-on-year to 709 thousand m3. According to Lesprom Analytics, the value of imports jumped 63% to $464 million, while average price of plywood soared 44% to $654 per m3.
U.S. doubled imports of plywood from Vietnam to 146 thousand m3. Russian exports of plywood to the U.S, dipped 3% to 38 thousand m3, the value of exports soared 91% to $32 million. Average price of Russian plywood jumped 96% to $832 per m3. Russia was the third-largest source of the U.S. hardwood plywood imports in 2021, exceeding 567 million square feet worth more than $334 million. In addition, according to Decorative Hardwoods Association, more than 653 million square feet of birch plywood was imported from Vietnam last year, much of it using birch from Russia.
Supplies of plywood from Brazil increased by 20% to 133 thousand m3 in April, and supplies from Indonesia jumped by 56% to 110 thousand m3.
In May, Florida Сourt’s permanent injunction stops sale of Brazilian plywood in the U.S. Judge Roy Altman entered a permanent injunction requiring the revocation of all PS 1 certificates issued by PFS-TECO to over a dozen Brazilian mills producing structural plywood for the U.S. market. The decision forces wholesalers and retailers to immediately consider these products off-grade and to either obliterate the PS 1 stamp on the plywood before resale or destroy it.
