Sodra Wood, which is a Sweden’s largest forest owners association and an international forest industry group, will expand supplying lumber to Japan of 90,000 m3 as a total volume in a year or two years. About 60,000 m3 of 90,000 m3 will be JAS (Japanese Agricultural Standards) lumber.
The company got a certification of JAS for 2 x 4 lumber in 2020. Since the prices of Canadian SPF lumber are high, Sodra expanded supplying lumber to Japan. In this year, a supply of DIY will be 30,000 m3 and of JAS lumber will be 30,000 m3. Sodra is an international forest industry group owned by 54,000 forest owners and produces not only lumber but also pulps and biomass fuels.
There are six lumber plants in Sweden and is one lumber plant in Finland. The plants produce 2,200,000 m3 lumber annually. 70% of the annual product is whitewood lumber and 30% of the annual product is redwood lumber. The products are all planed lumber. The company supplies 30% lumber in Sweden, 30% in the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Japan and other areas in Europe.
For Japan, Monsteras plant produces DIY lumber and Varo plant produces JAS lumber. Varo plant is available to produce 700,000 m3 JAS lumber in a year and to consume afforested trees from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) so a yield rate for lumber is very high.
The sizes of JAS lumber for 2 x 4 and 2 x 6 are 6 – 16 feet. The company plans to produce 300mm genban made of whitewood and long or wide lumber as the market in Japan expands. The prices of logs and electricity are extremely high in Europe but not in Scandinavia.
Mokko Land Co., Ltd. in Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, which imports exterior lumber form overseas, is now in charge of doing business for Sodra.
The vice president of Mokko Land says that there are not many enquires for DIY recently because high demand during COVID-19 is over now. There is a possibility of expanding supply of JAS lumber for 2 x 4 because the market size is over 800,000 m3 of 2 x 4 lumber annually. Mokko Land tries to import 5,000 m3 JAS lumber in a month and will expand importing 60,000 m3 of JAS lumber annually.
