Exports to Japan of value-added wooden building materials from the Seattle customs district increased 40 percent in 1996, to $165.7 million. In addition, sales of softwood lumber increased 8 percent to $306 million. Seattle continued to be the leading export center in the US for the sale of wooden building materials to Japan, representing just over 40 percent of total US exports.

Japan continued to be the largest export market for wooden building materials from the Seattle district

One of the largest increases was for prefabricated buildings, which jumped 85 percent to $49.2 million. Wood doors increased 72 percent to $28.9 million and wood windows were up 48 percent to $12.4 million.

Japan continued to be the largest export market for wooden building materials from the Seattle district, representing 55 percent of total exports. Canada was the second largest export market at $109 million, or 36 percent of total exports.

See accompanying table on page 2 for more details.

Export statistics are available on a country basis for the Seattle customs district, the Pacific Northwest (WA, and OR) and for the US total. Summaries were compiled from US Department of Commerce data by CINTRAFOR.

Copies of complete export statistics are available from
CTED (tel 206/464-7143) or
CINTRAFOR (tel 206/543-8684).

Imported Housing Up in 1996

As reported in the January issue of this newsletter imported housing starts grew to over 11,000 units in 1996. This was an increase of over 100 percent from 1995. A more detailed summary of imported housing starts appeared in the January 24 edition of the Japan Lumber Reports:

1996 Manufactured Home Sales

Sales for the eight largest manufacturers of homes in Japan amounted to 16 percent of the total housing market for April 1996 to March 1997, or 260,000 units. A summary of results for these companies follows:

The largest manufacturer using 2x4 technology, Mitsui Home, has announced plans to increase sales to 15,000 units within 5 years. Plans call for doubling the sales force in the next year and to increase franchises by 2 to 23 companies. The company intends to procure land near Tokyo to add a third plant.

Source: Japan Lumber Reports