TABLE 114.-Pulpwood: Imports (for consumption) into the United States

1 No imports of "other" rossed were reported for the calendar years 1931 to 1936, inclusive, except 51 cords valued at $255 imported from Canada in 1935.

Source: Comparative statistics of imports into the United States for consumption, 1931-35-W. P. A. statistical project initiated and conducted by the U. S. Tariff Commission. Imports for 1936 compiled by the U. S. Tariff Commission from data furnished by the U. S. Department of Commerce.

Canada is the principal source of imports of pulpwood, in all recent years having supplied over 90 percent, and in the 2 years 1935 and 1936 the whole of the imports. Several cargoes of pulpwood were imported from the Soviet Union in each recent year prior to 1935. In years before 1931 small imports from Newfoundland were also reported. The imports from the Soviet Union consisted principally of peeled spruce, and in 1931 totaled 52,243 cords valued at $744,414; in 1932, 44,721 cords valued at $480,738; in 1933, 25,759 cords valued at $236,231, and in 1934, 9,368 cords valued at $71,367. Pulpwood was imported from the Soviet Union by only one or two concerns, and the cargoes were landed chiefly at Albany, Ñ. Y., for distribution among a few mills in upper New York State.

EXPORTS

Exports of pulpwood from the United States are of small volume relative to imports, though in some years they attained appreciable proportions. Practically all of the exports go to Canada; in 1935 one shipment of 100 cords valued at $500 went to the United Kingdom. The exports to Canada represent, in the main, intercompany transfers and sales of wood moving short distances across the Canadian border. Exports since 1930 are shown in table 115.

TABLE 115.-Pulpwood: Exports from the United States

CONSUMPTION AND DISTRIBUTION

CONSUMPTION BY SPECIES

Spruce is used for pulpwood in larger quantities than any other species. As reported by the Bureau of the Census, spruce has constituted about 32 percent of the wood used in recent years in the production of pulp, Southern pine about 22 percent, hemlock (principally Western hemlock) about 18 percent, balsam fir and poplar each about 5 percent, miscellaneous other species together about 10 percent, and slabs and mill waste 8 percent. Table 116 shows the consumption of pulpwood by principal species in 1927 and from 1929 to 1935.

* Includes small quantities of imported wood.

'Includes data for a small quantity of spent licorice root of no market value. Source: Bureau of the Census, Census of Manufactures.

CONSUMPTION BY PULPING PROCESSES

The proportions of the total pulpwood used in the various processes of pulp manufacture have undergone substantial changes within the last decade. During the 5-year period from 1926 to 1930 approximately 45 percent of the total wood utilized in pulp production was reduced by the sulphite process, 19.7 percent by the sulphate process, 22.2 percent by the ground-wood process, and 13.1 percent by the soda and semichemical processes combined. In the succeeding 5 years, 1931 to 1935, the ratio of wood reduced by the sulphite process to total wood consumed declined to 40.3 percent, by the ground-wood process to 18.3 percent, and by the soda and semichemical processes combined to 11.3 percent. The ratio of wood reduced by the sulphate process increased to 30.1 percent, chiefly as a result of the growth of the sulphate industry in the South.

Table 117 shows the quantity of pulpwood reduced by the different processes in each year from 1926 to 1935.

Spruce and balsam fir in the eastern half of the country and hemlock, white fir, and Western spruce on the Pacific coast are the woods principally used in the sulphite and ground-wood processes. About 60 percent of the total pulpwood of these species used in the United States is reduced by the sulphite process, and the bulk of the remainder by the ground-wood process. A larger percentage of spruce than of the other species named is reduced by the ground-wood process. This is in part due to the fact that most of the spruce used as pulpwood is reduced in the Northeastern and Lake States, where there is a large production of newsprint, and therefore of ground-wood pulp. Spruce has, in general, been regarded in the past as superior to any other species for the production of both ground-wood and sulphite pulp, and the preference for it has probably been more pronounced in the production of ground-wood than in the production of sulphite pulp.

Spruce, hemlock, and white fir are suitable for reduction to sulphate pulp also but many other species are satisfactory for such use. Southern pine, however, which is more abundant and cheaper than spruce or balsam fir, constitutes the bulk of the wood used in this country for the production of sulphate pulp, and nearly all the Southern pine used as pulpwood is reduced by the sulphate process. The remainder of the pulpwood used in the production of sulphate pulp consists principally of jack pine (used in the Lake and Central region), hemlock and mill waste, partly Douglas fir (used on the Pacific coast), and smaller quantities of a considerable number of other species.

Table 118 shows the consumption of different species of pulpwood in the several pulp processes as reported by the Bureau of the Census for 1932, the latest year for which such data are available. With the marked expansion of the sulphate industry in the South in the last few years, a larger part of the total wood reduced by the sulphate process now consists of Southern pine than was the case in 1932.

TABLE 118.—Pulpwood: United States consumption by kinds of wood and processes of reduction, 1932

1 Data for a small amount of "Soda and semichemical" included with those for "sulphite." Data for "mechanical" included with those for "sulphite."

Includes a small quantity of imported hemlock.

Data for "soda and semichemical" included with those for "sulphate."

Data for "sulphate" included with those for "sulphite."

Data for "mechanical" and "sulphite" included with those for "soda and semichemical."

7 Includes data for a small quantity of imported jack pine.

Data for "mechanical" included with those for "sulphate."

• Domestic only.

10 Data for "sulphite" included with those for "soda and semichemical."

11 Principally domestic, but includes data for a small quantity of imported cottonwood.

12 Data for "sulphite" included with those for "sulphate."

13 Combined to avoid disclosing, exactly or approximately, quantities consumed by individual establishments.

14 Domestic chestnut, Douglas fir, willow, white pine, and buckeye, in order of their importance, and domestic and imported basswood.

15 Included in total for "chemical and semichemical."

16 Includes data for a small quantity of spent licorice root of no market value.

17 The totals for each process are not the sum of the individual species as given, which in some cases: are adjusted to avoid disclosure, exactly or approximately, of the operations of individual establishments, as indicated in footnotes; they represent the actual aggregate quantities reduced by each process. Source: Bureau of the Census, Forest Products, 1932.

CONSUMPTION BY REGIONS AND PROPORTIONS SUPPLIED FROM DOMESTIC

AND FOREIGN SOURCES

The upward trend of United States total pulpwood consumption in the post-war period, indicated in preceding tables, is chiefly attributable to the expansion of the pulp industry in the Pacific coast and Southern regions. In the Northeastern region the consumption of pulpwood reached its highest level in 1920. Thereafter it began to decline, and after 1929 showed a marked decrease. In 1932 only a little more than half as much was consumed in that region as in 1920. In the Lake and Central region consumption of pulpwood reached its peak in 1926 and after that year declined to a low in 1932 of about two-thirds of the 1926 volume. Though there was some increase in

both the Northeastern and Lake and Central regions after 1932, only about two-thirds as much was used in the Northeastern region in 1934 as the average for the 5-year period, 1925 to 1929; the consumption in the Lake and Central region in 1934 was about 70 percent of the 1925 to 1929 average. Statistics for 1935 and 1936 comparable with those upon which the above statements are based are not available; while there have been some further increases from the low levels of 1932, consumption in the Northeastern and Lake and Central regions probably remains substantially below the predepression figures. On the other hand, in the Pacific coast and Southern regions it has increased almost continually since 1920, though there was a substantial decline in the Pacific coast region in 1932. In both regions the consumption in 1936 doubtless was above that of any preceding year.

A general downward trend is noticeable in the proportion of the total consumption of pulpwood represented by imports since 1920. This decline, however, is the result principally of the increased production and consumption of pulpwood in the Pacific coast and Southern regions where little imported wood is used. Considering the figures for 2 or 3 consecutive years together, imported wood in the Northeastern region has constituted a fairly stable proportion, about onethird, of the total pulpwood used. In the Lake and Central region imports constitute a smaller percentage of the total consumption than in the Northeastern, but the proportion has been increasing. In the last 5 years imports have accounted for about one-fifth of the total pulpwood used in the Lake and Central region as compared with only a little more than one-tenth in the 1920 to 1924 period.

Table 119 shows the approximate consumption of pulpwood by regions and the ratio of imported wood to the total consumed in the period from 1920 to 1935. On account of variations in year-end mill inventories of pulpwood, the 5-year averages shown in the table are probably more nearly indicative of the proportions of imported wood consumed in the several regions than are the figures for any single year. However, other factors may be responsible for inaccuracies in the figures given. Nevertheless, the table is roughly indicative of the trend of the consumption of imported and domestic wood in the several regions.

1 The figures shown in table 119 are approximate only for several reasons. Among these is the fact that the figures for regional consumption were compiled from the data for consumption by States as reported by the Bureau of the Census. Since data for the consumption of Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio, and, in some years, New Hampshire, are not shown separately in the census reports but are included in the consumption reported in "all other States", the figures shown in the table somewhat understate the pulpwood consumption of the Northeastern and Lake and Central regions. Similarly, although it is implied in the table that the figures shown for consumption of "all other States" represent roughly that of the Southern region, actually the relatively small consumption of States in the Northeastern and Lake and Central regions not reported separately in the census reports is included with the consumption of "all other States." Another possible source of small errors in the table is the fact that the figures for imports of pulpwood into the various regions are based upon the data of imports by customs districts, and the point at which the imported wood is entered may not indicate in all cases the region in which the wood is reduced to pulp. However, all errors arising from such deficiencies in the basic data cannot seriously alter the relative importance of imported and domestic pulpwood in the consumption of the various regions.