New housing starts surge to 93,759 units in March 2006, up 3.3% from March last year. The rise was due to increases in rental units despite reductions in owner's units and those built for sale. Wood based units rose to 41,663, up 2.7% and accounted for 44.4% of the new housing starts in March. Seasonally adjusted annual starts amounted to 1.217 million units.

A technology which transforms wood into plastic-like three-dimensional forms has been recently developed by the Aichi Industrial Technology Institute. The form is obtained by applying steam to the wood to accentuate certain properties such as heat flow and self adhesiveness. To adjust the wood form, the wood material is turned into powder and processed with steam. Then, it is shaped in a container with heat and pressure. In initial tests, plastic-like forms were obtained from lignocellulosic material such as wood, rice hull, cut grass and newspaper.

US housing market continues to slow

The US housing market continues to slow. The pace of construction of new houses slipped 7.4% in April, according to the US Census Bureau. Confidence in the housing industry is at its lowest ebb since 1995, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

Former US Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, said that the house boom was over and predicted that there was no danger of a total collapse of the housing market. He added that Americans’' consumption could taper off somewhat now that the US housing market's "extraordinary boom" had ended.

China exports of wooden furniture amounted to 44.18 million pieces worth $1.64 billion in the first quarter of 2006, up 25.6% in volume and 34.4% in value from the same period in 2005. At the same time, China also increased its imports of wooden furniture imports to 238,900 pieces worth $24.8 million, up 44% in volume and 43% in value. In addition, the imports and exports of furniture semi-products grew as well. Imports of these products reached $5.03 million (up 6.6%) while exports rose 57.4% to $150.56 million.

Chinese furniture imports undercut MDF demand

North American MDF capacity remained virtually unchanged during the past two years. Only 2.3% growth was reported in 2005 over 2004 (5.4 million m3 versus 5.3 million m3). Also, numerous proposed agri-fibre projects did not materialize. In contrast, the expansion pace this year is much faster. Three new MDF projects for the US South (two emphasizing laminated flooring) are scheduled to come on-stream along with a few modifications to existing plants. With these expansions, North American capacity is forecast to surge 20% to 6.5 million m3 in 2006.