U.S. foreign trade in materials used in construction

Construction Review, Fall, 1997 by C.B. Pitcher, Chris Twarok

products. The imports of each of these

categories recorded over a half billion dollars. In total the imports of

these five categories was over $3.4 billion or about 50 percent of all

U.S. imports of these nonwood materials. Other major U.S. import

classifications included plumbing fixture fittings, fabricated structural

metals, concrete products n.e.c., other construction plastics products,

vitreous plumbing fixtures, plastic pipe and fittings, misc. metal work,

water heaters, and metal doors (sash & trim).

The product categories with the largest percent increases between

1989 and 1996 were asbestos cement pipe (a product no longer made

in this country), concrete block and brick, mineral wool, concrete

products, n.e.c., architectural and ornamental metal work, hard

surfaced floor coverings, gypsum products, and solid plastics floor

coverings. The percentage increases for several of these categories

were from a small base value.

Canada, Mexico, Italy, Taiwan, China, Japan, Spain, and West

Germany were the leading supplying nations for these products.

These eight countries accounted for 80 percent of total U.S. imports

of these products. Table 2 provides import statistics and lists the

major supplying countries for each of the SIC building product

categories.

SOLID WOOD PRODUCTS

Overall Trade Patterns

The trade gap between imports and exports of wood construction

materials increased significantly in 1996. This was due to an increase

in imports over 1995, lead by softwood lumber. Japan and Canada

remain our first and second largest export markets, respectively. For

imports, Canada and Indonesia remain our largest suppliers, while

Mexico became our third largest supplier of wood construction

materials.

U.S. Exports

Table 3 shows U.S. exports of wood construction materials since

1989. Exports of wood construction materials increased by 18

percent since 1989, and declined 1.0 percent from 1995. The general

increase in overall exports is driven by increases in exports of

value-added products such as panel products, fabricated structural

members, hardwood lumber and hardwood veneer. In fact, in 1996

exports of value-added construction materials (everything except logs,

chips, and poles, piles, and posts) made up 62 percent of exports of

wood construction materials. In 1989, the comparable figure was 46

percent.

Japan remains our largest market for wood construction

materials. Exports of wood construction materials to Japan were

valued at $3.27 billion in 1996. Traditionally, the bulk of these

exports have been in unfinished or semi-finished products, and

value-added products represented only a small percentage of total exports.

However, since 1990, value-added products as a percentage of total

exports to Japan have been increasing. In 1996, value-added exports

represented 32.8 percent of total exports, up from 29.0 percent in

1990. This increase can be attributed to joint efforts of the U.S.

Government and private sector and the Japanese government to open

the Japanese market for construction materials.

Our second largest export market is Canada, which in 1996