According to the summary the tallying organizations made up, Japan’s total import of North American logs were 1,789,000 cbms in the first half, 4.3% more than the same period of last year.
Logs for sawmills in major Douglas fir ports like Kure, Matsunaga and Kashima decreased considerably by mills’ slower production but log arrivals increased for the ports like Ishinomaki and Sakai Minato where plywood mills are so increase of logs for plywood mills offset decrease of logs for sawmills.
Volume for top three port of Kure, Kashima and Matsunaga whe re Chugoku Lumber and other major Douglas fir sawmills like Toa decreased and total of three ports was 852,000 cbms, 13.6% drop and share of three ports in total import was 47.6%, 7.6 points down from the same period of last year.
Another port of Matsuyama where another large Douglas fir sawmill, Tsurui Sangyo is located, showed 19% decline as well.