How many new members will be added to the Billion Board Foot Club in 2015?  For the answer to Question Number 15, we turned yesterday to the analyst who coined the term to classify the largest softwood lumber producers on the planet. Russ Taylor, President of International Wood Markets Group Inc. told us yesterday: “It looks like there will be no companies added to the Club in 2015. The three closest companies (one each from Canada, USA and Europe) were all around 900 million FBM in 2014 and I am quite sure that none were able to increase output by 10 per cent. Back in 2005, there were 22 companies in the Club vs. 11 in 2014! Back in 2005, nine were between 1.0 and 1.2 billion, so when the market collapsed, most of these companies had production declines of 30-50%. So, it takes a long time to build back up production. A few have grown through acquisitions, but all of the 11 in 2014 were also in the Club in 2005.”

Nine members of the Billion Board Foot Club are on this continent: West Fraser, Canfor, Weyerhauser, Georgia Pacific, Resolute Forest Products, Interfor, Sierra Pacific Industries, Hampton Affiliates, and Tolko Industries.

Source: timber-online.net