Lumber Production
Lumber Production in the US and Canada
Figure 1 shows softwood lumber production in the US and Canada and hardwood lumber production in the eastern US.
Figure 1. Lumber Production in the US and CanadaSources: Hardwood Market Report, Western Wood Products Association
The US exports roughly the same amount of hardwood lumber as it exports, but it imports far more softwood lumber than it exports. The vast majority of those softwood lumber imports are from Canada. (With Canada removed from the import data, the volumes of imports and exports are very roughly about the same.) Canadian softwood lumber imports account for 25-45 percent of the softwood lumber consumed in the US (depending on when we look) and Canada exports about half its production to the US.
By replacing the Canadian lumber production volumes in Figure 1 with Canadian imports into the US, we get a better picture of the lumber available in US markets (Figure 2).
Sources: Hardwood Market Report, Western Wood Products Association, US Department of Commerce