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Rick Lucrezi
01-27-2009, 9:46 AM
My brother stoped by last week with a trailer load of oak from washington. (he is a long hual driver) it was well tarped so I didnt get to see it, but he says its all clear, no knot, 1x6 in random length. Says he is taking it to the border and then the load gets picked up by someone else and goes into mexico. Any one know what that could be used for? My guess is it gets made into something and shiped back. I know we have plenty furniture factories, flooring and the like here. Why mexico?

Brian Elfert
01-27-2009, 10:32 AM
Cheaper labor and lower cost of doing business. It is cheaper to ship raw materials to Mexico and the finished goods back than to do the work in the USA.

What is even scarier is we will ship raw materials all the way to China and then have the finished goods shipped all the way back because the costs in China are so much less.

Steve Clardy
01-27-2009, 11:13 AM
Read an article in one of the trade magazines here while back.
There is a co. down there that produces cabinet doors only.
They turn out around 8-10 thousand cabinet doors a week.
They sell to the cabinet manufacturers here.
I would imagine they use tons of material that ship from here.

Richard M. Wolfe
01-27-2009, 12:11 PM
Ever look at one of those websites (there are several) selling rustic Mexican pine furniture? My understanding is that the wood is mainly radiata pine shipped to Mexico from Brazil. And who knows how much of it is actually made in Mexico. I've bought some of the rustic (and rusty) hardware from one of the sites for some orders...... it's made in India.

There seem to be storefronts going in and out of business around here all the time with people trying to make a quick buck as a middleman selling the stuff. A little off topic but at least it's about Mexico. :o

Jeff Mohr
01-27-2009, 1:09 PM
Not sure what they want with it south of the border but I agree with the China comment. We have several sawmills around here that take their big logs and rarer logs and save them for a boat that comes every 6 mo or so and takes the entire log to China.

Craig D Peltier
01-27-2009, 1:53 PM
I have noticed that shims at the borg seem to be shipped to the china and made there and sent back. Cant believe thats cheaper.

Doug Shepard
01-27-2009, 2:15 PM
I lived for a number of years in Oregon during my 20's and would take a drive out to the coast often on the weekends, normally Florence & north. But every now and then I'd end up south around Coos Bay. For as far as you could see, there were ships laden to the gills with some of the biggest logs you've ever seen- all heading to Japan. I'm sure they would be heading to China nowadays, but it seemed almost criminal that we weren't even doing the board milling here.

Ben Rafael
01-27-2009, 2:25 PM
Mexico doesn't have any environmental regulations regarding finishing products. California has strict laws that became very strict recently. Cali, until recently, had a lot of furniture and cabinet factories. Where do you think many of those factories went?

Rick Lucrezi
01-28-2009, 10:18 AM
I remember those logs being shipped. I remember that Japan would pay such a high price for port orford cedar (early 90s it was a 1000 per 1000 stump price) so no one here could afford it. Now its 80 cents retail. Seems wrong that outside markets can dictate pricing like that. I am high jacking my thread but I am a bit bummed. I am not saying I did not allready know what was happening but Sonny is right, we have been sold down the river. Maybe we sold ourselves down the river when everyone decided they needed the new car every couple years, big screen tvs in every room. Just thinking, are monthly outflows have gotten to a point where we out priced ourselves. Dont hate me, I am just thinking out loud here. If I could turn that oak into a profit in my shop what would it cost the end user?

Rod Sheridan
01-28-2009, 11:32 AM
I lived for a number of years in Oregon during my 20's and would take a drive out to the coast often on the weekends, normally Florence & north. But every now and then I'd end up south around Coos Bay. For as far as you could see, there were ships laden to the gills with some of the biggest logs you've ever seen- all heading to Japan. I'm sure they would be heading to China nowadays, but it seemed almost criminal that we weren't even doing the board milling here.

I don't intend to start a logging debate, however a year ago on TV I saw an hour program on logging in Switzerland.

Yes, that's correct, Switzerland has a thriving logging industry.

You can't really see it like we do in North America, they don't convert a forest to a wasteland, they cut a tree here, a tree there and take them out by helicopter or overhead lift lines.

How can this be profitable you're asking? Well, it's illegal to export timber from Switzerland, only completed products, so the Swiss have a pre-fab log cabin business.

The show gave a tour through a factory that was producing completed logs, cut, machined, and numbered that would then be assembled on site like a jig saw puzzle.

Plumbing, electrical etc was all pre-engineered into the structure and R value was of the highest level.

The houses are shipped all over Europe, at a good price, and of course the labour that goes into the house is in Switzerland (except for the erecting) so they employ lots of people and have a value added commodity.

Of course in NA we're not quite smart enough to recognize that we shouldn't allow our resources to be squandered, or sold for a pittance.

Many consider trade restraint to be protectionism or anti-capalist or socialist, I consider it to be good for our citizens, however most people seem to want the can of tuna 10 cents cheaper even if it results in our neighbours becoming un-employed.

Regards, Rod.

Jim King
01-28-2009, 3:28 PM
Mexico is the biggest buyer of wood from the Peruvian Amazon. They have several buying stations here. The local economy in Mexico is going well and the wood is also made into products for the US market.