China's Tariffs on U.S. Hardwood Exports Deliver ‘Painful’ Blow China’s plan to slap tariffs of as much as 25 percent on U.S. shipments of hardwood means a “very, very painful ” blow from the top customer, the American Hardwood Export Council said. Everything from oak wood to veneered panels of laminated wood has been ensnared in China’s $60 billionescalation of the trade battle with the U.S. Half of U.S. hardwood production is exported, and the bulk goes to China, Michael Snow, executive director of the Sterling, Virginia-based council, said Friday in a telephone interview. “This could be, I don’t want to say ‘catastrophic,’ but very, very painful for the industry,” Snow said. Last year, shipments to China included $1.6 billion in hardwood lumber, $800 million for hardwood logs and $260 million for veneer, Snow said. Almost all U.S. hardwood-manufacturing companies are small family owned firms, and the top producers probably account for only about 5 percent of output, leaving the market fragmented, he said. “It’s going to be a bumpy road, there’s no question about it,” he said. Kudlow Says Trump Won’t Back Off as China Expands Trade War Some traditional Chinese furniture manufacturers that rely on U.S. products have shut amid new environmental regulations. “We were looking at some pretty strong headwinds in China” before the latest salvo Friday in the trade battle, Snow said.
Maybe some furniture manufacturing will come back to life in the USA. So many here have died out as a result of China's imports. We had so many factories here that have all but died as a result of imports. as it is now, I try hard to look for items that support the US economy. For some products, it is impossible to find Made In The USA.
This will have very little impact on us here in Maine. Right now they are building multiple powerlines out of Canada and I don't think there is enough hardwood trees in the state to provide the Mat Logs required to do the job. My neighbor is a truckdriver and he hauls them down to North Carolina because they cannot get enough either. It is hard to say how these things shake out. On my farm, I cannot make a decision on one thing, and not affect someone else. It is like squeezing a water balloon; push here, and it balloons out there. One person it helps, another it hurts, but if the only one screaming is the one that is being hurt, it seems like it is a terrible idea. I do not know. I cannot say because I do not have enough information to make am intelligent reply on this from one biased source.
I do not have the info either. I haven't bought materials in many many years, I picked up a sheet of steel for a chimney block off plate and sheet of wood board for a different project, I was shocked and disappointed they were both from overseas.
I have not bought hardwood plywood in years. I remember the last time I was building with it I was with my first wife, she had just been in a car accident and had a broken arm. I was struggling to lift a sheet of 3/4 oak plywood onto the cart, and an employee walked by. I asked him if he could help me. He said, "This is a do it yourself warehouse"", and walked off. I was seething! I think it was called Home Quarters or something, anyway they are now defunct.
Please allow me to diarrhea some phone typed opinion.... That's not so much the issue.....and you or no one else I know would be able to afford American made furniture....... It's the simplemans reasoning behind it. China China China..... Ever see cheap American made stuff? 200+ dollar axe...paying someone a "liveable" wage is spensive. It's not just the simple falsities spread by the media. It's pretty complicated. It would take a serious 20+page paper to prove and explain one portion of what's really happening. It is strengthening our dollar vs China's Wich is good. The European union waved the white flag a few weeks ago.... One simple fact..... America's purchasing power at work. They need us to buy their stuff. Not the other way around. It's more of a genius ploy to cover other moves. Tarrifs are like a tax to pay to export/import. And America pays the tax burden.... I've done some good research on what tarrifs are affecting..... with the automotive companies placing blame and outdoor power equipment manufacturers placing blame...... The US is basically making other countries rich...we just pay and pay and pay.... We are that rich idiot who literally doesn't care what something costs.... For example ford blaming the tarrifs on it's poor performance and rasing it's prices....do they build their AMERICAN trucks( insert hillbilly voice: buy murican fuuurrd!!!!!) with China steel?....... No they probably use Canadian steel/aluminum (i hope) Wich we are tarrifing... Which is good because they export most of their goods/raw material to the US almost duty free while we pay hefty export fees... We broke Canadas heart when they(average citizen's) found out they import maple syrup from the usa.... And put a larger tarriff on it.(Wich will make our syrup worth more or less?) Overall it's going to be a GDP/jobs win. Tarrifs are bad because Chinamen can make for example... say a Better small engine (harbor freight prefator) than America can and at half the cost. I like that option. I don't want to have to buy or pay a tax on something... I prefer liberty over what's "better for everyone else"
I also think the idea of "you kill all of your tariffs, and we will kill ours" didn't go over very well with the EU or China
The disparity in the tariffs is so out of balance, it is hard to comprehend how this creeping up was ever allowed to happen. Becoming a country with just service jobs doesn't do us any favors. I am betting that with modernized machinery that the US can produce a lot more products. Already there are TVs and some furniture made here. I've looked for shoes and clothing. Hard to find and cost more, but with really good quality.
I think it slowly creeped up over the last 50 years, getting worse and worse each year. The USA is by far the largest consumer in the world...….
We have a house in Lisbon, NH and there, there is a furniture manufacturing plant in that town that makes hardwood products. Their main customer is Universities and Military Installations, and while it is not always the best times for them, they have managed to be in business now for a hundred years or so. They have chanked their name to DCI Furniture now, but used to be Parker and Young, taking the vast hardwood that grew in the region. I have some inlaws that work there so it will be interesting how they make out in all this. Thirty years ago they bought their own logs and broke them down into furnature, but now they buy hardwood in rough sawn cants and make what they need instead of having the cost of a woodyard and all that. They do however, buy a fair amount of hardwood plywood. They make quality products though.
Another interesting note is my father who also uses a fair amount of hardwood plywood. He has a Urn and Casket business and often uses plywood. (Not in the constructing of his "green" caskets that have to be made in specific ways though). I would make some changes to his business model, but I will not compete against him now until he gets done doing it. If that happens I might do a part time business cranking out caskets and urns. He does pretty well selling them to a local undertaker who said he can sell all he produces. The only thing I would change is that my father does them individually, where as I would do them in batches to get a little more volume sales.
Yeah for sure... The funeral home though where my father sells his caskets and urns are really good people though. We go to church with them, and while they do not advertise this as they would be besieged due to their generosity, but if a child passes away, there is no cost to the family for the funeral. By father builds the child caskets for free as well. He buried my sister and knows the heart ache of the loss of a child. But the wife runs the funeral home, the husband runs the restaurant. They are the ones giving all the flood to Rock the Flock 2018 as a charity. Waldo County is the poorest county in all of New England, but we do take care of one another. We are "rich" in other ways.
I’m on the local cemetery board. We live in a poor county and I want to keep plot costs low. The problem is if we have low cost plots people from the city buy them. We have to keep raising our plot costs so we don’t fill up with non locals looking for a bargain.
All cemetery plots are cheap when you consider its a for-eternity sort of thing, whereas in comparison EVERY year I must spend $10,200 for property taxes! LOL
The cemetery is in a different town than where I live. I use their garbage transfer site because they have better service. They ask me if I own land in that town. I say yes because I have a cemetery plot there!
Jack Straw: Too Funny! I love it! I have a good friend that had an addiction problem and went to a Christian Drug Rehab location. He smoked cigarettes and thought sneaking them would be no big deal. He got caught and said he had "to bury his sin." They had him hand shovel a grave; 3 feet wide, 8 feet long and 6 feet deep; then drop in his pack of cigarettes and cover it back up. He said he has not smoked since (10 months). That is brutal!
