A growing number of US sawmills are closing their doors. Hardwood industry leaders are blasting years of tough trade with China for lost business.
Manchester, Tenn. – Several US sawmills are fighting to stay open after industry leaders say years of trade uncertainty have squeezed export markets and tightened margins.
The Hardwood Federation estimates at least one sawmill goes out of business every week. In addition, the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA) reported that more than 4% of US sawmills have been lost due to closings and mergers.
Machines from those sawmills stock a lot of planes for auction on the desk of John Evans at Evans Lumber Co in Manchester, Tennessee.
However, Evans is keen to save his sawmills from being auctioned due to ongoing trade talks. Evans closed his sawmill down the week of Thanksgiving because he wasn’t getting enough lumber orders to keep it open. He used the church to repair his equipment, which he says is great, but he doesn’t pay the bills.
“It’s profoundly quiet here,” Evans said. “We’re usually running, at least three days a week. That’s not the case here. Most of our customers. They chose not to get lumber from us this week.”
A lumber company in Manchester, Tennessee closed for a week as international customers stopped buying American Hardwood in response to the President’s tax policies. (FOX Business / Fox News)
Evans said a lot of this goes back to the engagement of the conflicts that started in 2018, during the first administration of Trump. This is when some countries, such as China, stopped buying American hardwood in retaliation to President Donald Trump
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At the time, the Hardwood Federation reported American lumber was China’s second largest export. When China retaliated, American lumber merchants lost some of their market share to competitors in places like Russia, Thailand and Malaysia.
Evans said the current trade talks between the US and China are intensifying the pressure that started years ago.
“The Vietnamese told us that if America bought their product, they wouldn’t buy our product,” Evans said. “Our sales are low, our lumber prices are low, but our costs are twice as high as they would be.”
The NHLA said the reciprocating tariffs from other countries are “evolving,” creating a ripple effect that is influencing global hardwoods that are “changing margins, and changing the sublins chain, and the Americas.”
“During the 2017 trade dispute, the Hardwood industry experienced significant difficulties, including a 20-25% decline,” said Dallin Brooks, Executive Director of Nhla, said. “Several companies were forced to close, and many others struggled to recover. This year is particularly bad.”
In September, President Trump imposed 10% tariffs on lumber and 25% tariffs on furniture and cabinets. Two weeks later, more than 450 US sawmills signed a letter written by the Hardwood Federation, pleading with the US Department of Agriculture and the White House for relief. The letter revealed the hardwood industry’s desire for the Trump administration to prioritize them in future trade negotiations with China.
“We were the victim of revenge,” said the Executive Director of the Hardwood Federation. “If enough of their products get prices coming in here and their markets shrink here, they’re going to fight back.”
Hardwood associations said that American hardwood sellers lost part of their market share in China when the countries argued around the first tariff policies of the President of 2018. US sawmills are struggling to find markets that were lost to P (FOX Business / Fox News)
Many sawmills are facing another challenge as consumers are turning to joint analysis or wood for similar woodworking, often sold as “luxury” options.
“These two things have come together in kind of a perfect storm to put a lot of pressure on the sector,” Cole said.
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Claire Getty said her family’s sawmills in Huntland, Tennessee, have struggled to compete with big box stores that promote vinyl or plastic flooring as premium products.
“If you’re going to go and look for flooring at, say, a Big Box store, you’re going to find options that look more like vinyl plank flooring, Getty Fridays.” I truly believe that people, but it is not available. “
Some US sawmills are struggling to compete with box stores advertising more expensive, lower quality wood look-a-likes like “luxury vinyl” products as “luxury” (FOX Business / Fox News)
Getty said the shift to ‘luxury’ wood alternatives has resulted in huge losses from sawmills to tree farmers.
“We’re an industry worth saving,” Getty said.
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Several sawmill owners are planning an annual trip to Washington DC early next year to ask their representatives and the Trump Administration directly for help.
