West coast log exports up slightly in third quarter of 2012

China retains dominant position as largest importer of West coast logs

2012-11-27

(Press-News.org) Log exports from Washington, Oregon, northern California, and Alaska increased about nine percent in the third quarter of 2012, totaling 412 million board feet, according to the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station. At the same time, lumber exports decreased about eight percent to 186 million board feet, compared to the second quarter of this year.

"Sixty-two percent of West coast log exports went to China during the third quarter," said Xiaoping Zhou, a research economist with the station who compiled the data. "China increased its importation of West coast logs to over 257 million board feet, an increase of 30 percent from the second quarter of this year."

According to Zhou, although China's economy has slowed down during the last few quarters, the country will retain its dominant position in the West coast's log export market for the next few quarters—or, even, the next few years.

Other highlights from the third quarter of this year:

The total value of exported logs increased by 12.5 percent, to $512 million; The total value of exported lumber declined by about 10 percent, to $133 million; China's lumber imports from the West coast in the third quarter decreased over 14 percent compared to the second quarter of 2012, while Canada's imports decreased about 8 percent and Japan's imports decreased about 3 percent. The decrease in the West coast's softwood lumber exports is a result of China importing more lumber from British Columbia, Canada, according to Zhou. Last year as a whole, for example, China increased its softwood lumber imports from British Columbia by 62 percent, compared to 2010.

Zhou compiled the statistics using data from the U.S. International Trade Commission and Production, Prices, Employment, and Trade in Northwest Forest Industries, an annual station publication that provides current information on the region's lumber and plywood production as well as employment in forest industries.

### The Pacific Northwest Research Station is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. It has 11 laboratories and centers located in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington and about 400 employees.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Annals of Internal Medicine tip sheet for 27 Nov. 2012

2012-11-27

1. Task Force Reviews Evidence to Update Hepatitis C Screening Recommendations for Asymptomatic Adults In 2004, the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommended against routine screening for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in asymptomatic adults who are not at increased risk for infection. At the time, the Task Force also found insufficient evidence to recommend for or against routine HCV screening for adults at high risk for infection. Since then, other groups have recommended screening higher-risk patients, including a recommendation by the Centers for ...

USC/CHLA research shows autism risk for developing children exposed to air pollution

2012-11-27

LOS ANGELES — Research conducted by University of Southern California (USC) and Children's Hospital Los Angeles scientists demonstrates that polluted air – whether regional pollution or coming from local traffic sources – is associated with autism. The study titled "Traffic Related Air Pollution, Particulate Matter, and Autism," shows that exposure to traffic-related air pollution during pregnancy and the first year of life is associated with a more than two-fold risk of autism. In addition, exposure to regional pollution consisting of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and small ...

Evolutionary mode routinely varies amongst morphological traits within fossil species lineages

2012-11-27

What happens when the modern evolutionary theory of punctuated equilibrium collides with the older theory of mosaic evolution? Part of the answer comes from a new, wide-ranging study by paleobiologists Melanie J Hopkins at the Museum fuer Naturkunde Berlin and Scott Lidgard at the Field Museum in Chicago. Their results are published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). While processes of evolution are largely studied by observation and experiment in the living world, evolutionary tempo and mode – rates and patterns of change, respectively ...

Preventive screening for sudden cardiac death in young athletes debated

2012-11-27

While ensuring the safety of high school and college athletes is hardly controversial, the method and associated costs of doing so are hotly debated. Conducting electrocardiographic (ECG) screenings of all young competitive athletes in the United States would cost up to $69 billion over 20 years and save about 4,813 lives, making the cost per life saved over $10 million, according to a study published online today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. A corresponding editorial suggests that this number is inflated and "misleading" and blames the high ...

Exposure to traffic pollution in pregnancy, first year of life appears associated with autism

2012-11-27

CHICAGO – Exposure to traffic-related air pollution, particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide during pregnancy and during the first year of a child's life appears to be associated with an increased risk of autism, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry, a JAMA Network publication. Autism is a diverse disorder with genetic and environmental factors likely contributing to its origins. Autism spectrum disorders are commonly characterized by problems in communication, social interaction and repetitive behaviors. Emerging evidence suggests ...

Study suggests eliminating Medicare consultation payments associated with a net increase in spending

2012-11-27

CHICAGO – A study of Medicare claims data suggests that eliminating payments for consultations commonly billed by specialists was associated with a net increase in spending on visits to both primary care physicians and specialists, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. Before 2010, Medicare payments for consultations were substantially higher than for office visits of similar complexity that were commonly billed by primary care physicians (PCPs). In January 2010, Medicare eliminated consultation payments ...

Automated phone and mail notices increase medication adherence

2012-11-27

PASADENA, Calif., Nov. 26, 2012 — Patients newly prescribed a cholesterol-lowering medication were more likely to pick it up from the pharmacy if they received automated phone and mail reminders, according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine today. This is one of a few published studies to examine strategies for reducing primary nonadherence, which occurs when patients do not pick up new prescriptions. The study of 5,216 Kaiser Permanente Southern California patients found that those who received an automated reminder were 1.6 times more likely ...

Shrubs lend an insight into a glacier's past

2012-11-27

The stems of shrubs have given researchers a window into a glacier's past, potentially allowing them to more accurately assess how they're set to change in the future. Their findings have been published today, 27 November, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, and show how a glacier's history of melting can be extended way past the instrumental record. Much like the rings on a tree stump indicate how old it is, measuring the width of rings on the stem of a shrub can give a good indication of how well it has grown year on year. Under extreme environmental ...

Scientists image brain structures that deteriorate in Parkinson's

2012-11-27

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- A new imaging technique developed at MIT offers the first glimpse of the degeneration of two brain structures affected by Parkinson's disease. The technique, which combines several types of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), could allow doctors to better monitor patients' progression and track the effectiveness of potential new treatments, says Suzanne Corkin, MIT professor emerita of neuroscience and leader of the research team. The first author of the paper is David Ziegler, who received his PhD in brain and cognitive sciences from MIT in 2011. The ...

Using biomarkers from prehistoric human feces to track settlement and agriculture

2012-11-27

For researchers who study Earth's past environment, disentangling the effects of climate change from those related to human activities is a major challenge, but now University of Massachusetts Amherst geoscientists have used a biomarker from human feces in a completely new way to establish the first human presence, the arrival of grazing animals and human population dynamics in a landscape. Doctoral student Robert D'Anjou and his advisor Raymond Bradley, director of the Climate System Research Center at UMass Amherst, with UMass colleagues Nick Balascio and David Finkelstein, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

New study unveils key strategies against drug-resistant prostate cancer

Northwestern Medicine, West Health, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute collaboration to provide easier access to mental health care

Is therapeutic hypothermia an effective treatment for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, a type of neurological dysfunction in newborns?

New AEM study highlights feasibility of cranial accelerometry device for prehospital detection of large-vessel occlusion stroke

Global experts make sense of the science shaping public policies worldwide in new International Science Council and Frontiers Policy Labs series

The Wistar Institute and Cameroon researchers reveals HIV latency reversing properties in African plant

$4.5 million Dept. of Education grant to expand mental health services through Binghamton University Community Schools

[Press-News.org] West coast log exports up slightly in third quarter of 2012
China retains dominant position as largest importer of West coast logs