Timber Operations Industry Profile

Companies in this industry own timberlands and grow and harvest timber on production cycles of 10 years or more, primarily for use as lumber. Major companies include US-based Plum Creek Timber, Potlatch, Rayonier, and Weyerhaeuser, as well as Stora Enso Oyj (Finland), Svenska Cellulosa (Sweden), and Resolute Forest Products (Canada).

The global forest products industry, which includes timber operations, generates more than $450 billion in annual revenue. Top sources for timber include the Brazil, Canada, China, India, and the US.

The US timber operations industry includes about 9,000 companies with combined annual revenue of about $10 billion and is expected to experience a high growth rate over the next two years. Key growth drivers include the rebound of the US housing and remodeling markets, and rising demand for US timber exports.

Some large companies have vertically integrated operations that may combine land ownership, land management, logging, sawmills, and manufacturing of wood or paper products. Companies that grow Christmas trees and other trees (woody crops) on production cycles of less than 10 years, primarily for use by the paper and pulp industries or as raw materials for engineered wood products, are not included in the industry.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand for timber used to make lumber is driven primarily by residential construction activity. Large logging companies can have a cost advantage over smaller ones through the use of more efficient (and more expensive) machinery, but ...